Union Bank of Nigeria Plc is alleged to be charging customers N50 for withdrawal slip before they could withdraw money from their account. The desperate measure by Union Bank could be a reflection of the hard times hitting operators in the banking sector.
A customer of the bank complained to Business Journal that she was shocked by the insistence of Union Bank staff at Ikotun branch in Lagos that she must pay N50 before collecting a withdrawal slip for a transaction at the bank. She said many customers got angry, protested and threatened to close their account with Union Bank rather than pay for withdrawal slip.
The said customer, who identified herself as a former banker, wondered why Union Bank should descend to such level to make money from customers.
However, Mr. Olufemi Adekola, Lead, Media and External Affairs at Union Bank of Nigeria Plc denied that the bank charges customers for withdrawal slips or tellers, insisting that the said customer could have misunderstood what the staff of the bank told her.
He said the bank staff could have demanded for the N50 for stamp duty on funds transfer from the said customer and not for withdrawal slip. He added that even the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] will not allow any bank to do that.
But a prominent market analyst stated that the dwindling fortunes of banks could force them to adopt unconventional measures to rake in more revenue to survive and remain in business, such as introducing new charges here and there.
He noted however that some bank customers waste the tellers by using as many as four or five per transaction due to errors, thus making banks to incur more expense in producing the tellers.
