Commercial Banks Denies Giving MTN The Right To deduct USSD Charges

Representatives under the aegis of Body of Bank CEOs has
brought its attention to the text message sent by the telco concerning the USSD
Charges Claim.

“Our attention has been drawn to SMS sent on Saturday 19th
October by MTN Nigeria Communications PLC to customers of banks in Nigeria in
respect of the above.

The earlier statement was that the banks requested MTN to
start charging customers for USSD transactions directly. She also asked
customers to contact their banks for more information but wish to state as
follows:

“We wish to reiterate that financial transaction charges are
regulated by the CBN as stipulated in the Banks Tariff and that the charges for
financial transactions carried out with banks remain unchanged.”

“That 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 accessing USSD is entirely that of the telco in the same
way a customer is billed for calls SMS and data”.

“MTN is the only telco 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”.

“That the banks are determined to pursue the Nigerian
National Financial Inclusion Strategy of the Federal Government of Nigeria and
we continue to advocate that telecommunication identify whole-heartedly with
this laudable initiative and implement transparent and low pricing model in the
USSD access code”.