By Amarachi Orjiude
Seven deposit money banks in Nigeria generated the sum of N403.6bn in nine months from fees and commissions, 24.7 per cent higher than the N303.9bn recorded in the same period of 2020.
The banks are Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, United Bank of Africa Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.
The N403.6bn was arrived at after aggregating the net fee and commission income as contained in the banks’ financial statements for the third quarter of this year.
Fees and commissions account for a significant percentage of non-interest income for banks, and represent income from account maintenance fees, electronic banking fees, and other credit-related commissions.
Net fee and commission income is the actual revenue generated from these charges after expenses incurred from providing the services have been deducted.
Access Bank raked in a total of N88.9bn as against N71.8bn generated during the same period in 2020.
The bank’s financial report also showed that it made N16.2bn from account maintenance and handling commission, and the sum of N46.3bn from channels and other e-business fees.
During the review period, Zenith Bank made N65.1bn from fees and commissions, 47.2 per cent higher than the N44.2bn generated in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The bank made N24.2bn from current account maintenance and N23.9bn from fees on electronic products.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ‘Guide to Charges by Banks, other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions Current Account Maintenance Fee’, CAMF is “applicable to current accounts only in respect of customer-induced debit transactions to third parties and debit transfers/lodgments to the customer’s account in another bank.”
The CBN says CAMF is not applicable to savings accounts and is negotiable subject to a maximum of N1 per mile.
UBA generated N110.9bn, N25.9bn higher than the N85bn made in the nine-month period of 2020. It made N7.1bn from account maintenance charges and N41.9bn from e-business fees.
Stanbic’s net fee and commission revenue of N60.9bn rose by 13.1 per cent from the N52.9bn generated in the corresponding period of 2020.
Account maintenance fees accounted for N3.7bn while electronic banking charges accounted for N2.5bn of the total fees and commission income.
According to the financial statement of GTB, N51.8bn was generated between January and September from fees and commissions, a N19.1bn jump from the revenue recorded in the same period of 2020.
The bank disclosed that the sum of N13.1bn was generated from account maintenance fees while e-business fees produced N15.6bn.
Union Bank raked in N10.3bn from fees and commission in the period under review. Account maintenance fees accounted for N1.7bn while electronic bank charges contributed N6.7bn.
Fidelity Bank generated a total of N15.7bn in the three quarters, rising by N5.6bn in the same period a year earlier.
The bank made N2.8bn from accountant maintenance fees and N6.7bn from e-business fees.
On January 1, 2020, the apex bank ushered in a new regime for bank charges. The changes to its guidelines mostly affected things like card maintenance fees, charge for hardware tokens and the amount that can be paid for electronic transfers.
In a circular dated December 20, 2019, the CBN placed N2,500 as the maximum cost for a hardware token.
It also said that bills payment including bills payment through other e-channels should cost a maximum of N500, and gave a range of costs for electronic funds transfer.
“Card maintenance fee on current account has been removed as the accounts already attract account maintenance fee. Savings accounts will now attract card maintenance fee of N50 per quarter from N50 per month,” the central bank said.
Originally published at Punch