Nigerian Banks disown MTN, say they made no demand for USSD charge

Nigerian banks have denied asking MTN to impose a new charge on customers for using the telecom firm’s access codes to conduct financial transactions.

MTN on Sunday announced a N4 charge for every 20 seconds of using USSD bank codes, claiming it took the decision as requested by the banks.

“Yello, as requested by your bank, from Oct. 21, we will start charging you directly for USSD access to banking services. Please contact your bank for more information,” the company said in a text message.

The government ordered the suspension of the plan after many Nigerians expressed outrage at a time citizens have been caused to pay more in tax and other charges. Communications minister, Isa Pantami, said he was not briefed before the announcement by MTN.

The Body of Bank CEOs said in a statement that MTN’s claim the banks called for the charges was untrue.

The group said, “the banks did not ask MTN to start charging customers as contained in the text message. The decision on whether, and what amount, to charge a customer for assessing USSD is entirely that of the telco company, in the same way a customer is billed for calls, SMS and data.”

It said, “MTN is the only company that is yet to implement end-user billing which is the standard practice for customer-initiated transactions. This is despite the fact that the banks, working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), have engaged MTN over a period of more than one year to try and bring down the cost of USSD to aid financial inclusion.”

– Premium Times