ATM Consortium (ATMC) has expressed optimism that all the banks would relinquish their off-location Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) as plans are underway for eight banks to surrender some 1,500 machines to the company.
Noble Ekajeh, managing director, ATMC, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that hopes are high that the rest of the banks would surrender their off-location ATMs to the consortium considering that those eight banks which have agreed to honour the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive are at the forefront of the Nigerian banking scene.
This is coming against plans by some banks mounting pressure on CBN to rescind its earlier directive for them to re-locate their ATMs at public places.
On what he thinks CBN’s position on the issue might be in the future, he noted that he could not be very sure, but that the compliance of the eight banks would culminate in CBN compelling others to conform with the directive, even if another consortium has to be created.
CBN had in April issued circular barring banks from deploying ATMs at public places such as hotels and airports as well as mandating them to redeploy such ATMs on or before June 30th of this year.
In an attempt to comply with this directive, the eight banks which own ATMC namely First Bank, Union Bank, Zenith Bank, Diamond Bank, UBA, Afribank, Fidelity and Wema Bank, have agreed to hand over all their offsite ATMs to the company; proposing that they be equity contributions to the consortium so as to increase its capital base. But Ekajeh noted that details of the implementation were still being worked out.
However, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that ATMC has begun to attract other banks to its family, offering them the opportunity to use their offsite ATMs as equity contributions to the consortium.
In another development, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has decried the CBN directive to banks over deployment of offsite ATMs. The institute advised CBN not to decide who operates ATMs, but concentrate on licensing and setting standards and guidelines for market operators; and that all consortiums that meet set guidelines should be approved to operate ATMs, while allowing banks time to freely create or join any consortium of their choice.
“There should be a push for the integration of banking halls, the web, mobile phones and ATMs to improve service delivery, velocity of money, ease of payment and a stronger financial services sector,” said CIBN in a statement, adding that this vision is contrary to CBN’s encouragement of the creation of a monopoly, which might suppress competition at the expense of the customer.
The institute also noted that fraudsters are already attacking bank customers through ATMs, and so banks need to manage such and other risks, requiring time especially for agreements and integration purposes if they must join a consortium.
Erastus Akingbola, CIBN president, said it was not advisable for many banks to have their ATMs in one location, and seemed optimistic that CBN would shift grounds on its directive.