The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has expressed its support for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s)new draft guidelines mandating banks to refund customers for failed Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions within 48 hours.
The FCCPC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Ondaje Ijagwu, announced the Commission’s position on the policy in a statement released on Monday.
According to the Commission, the CBN policy followed its (FCCPC) Consumer Complaints Data Report released in September, which highlighted persistent issues around delayed or unresolved failed transactions.
FCCPC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Mr. Tunji Bello, in the statement, described the CBN’s proposal as a “timely and long-awaited correction” to one of the most common complaints from bank customers.
He noted that even at the draft stage, the policy reflects a stronger alignment between regulatory bodies working to protect consumers.
“It is consistent with what the FCCPC has been advocating, given the number of complaints we receive about failed transactions.
“We commend the CBN for this decisive step, which will ease the burden on consumers and rebuild trust in financial services,” Bello said.
“Closer collaboration among regulators will lead to faster resolutions, prevent recurrences, and strengthen consumer confidence in Nigeria’s growing digital economy,” he added.
The CBN’s draft framework, released on October 9, requires banks to provide instant refunds for failed ATM transactions carried out on their own machines.
Under the draft framework, all on-us transactions, where a customer uses their own bank’s ATM, must be reversed instantly.
The CBN noted that if instant reversal is not possible due to technical hitches or system glitches, the transaction must be manually corrected within 24 hours.