The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, has announced a new price regime for Point of Sales (PoS) transactions – a fresh move to eradicate price discrepancies in the industry.
The association’s Public Relations Officer, Lagos Chapter, Stephen Adeoye, revealed the new price list during an interview with ChannelsTV on Friday. Under the new price regime, Adeoye said customers will pay N500 or less (depending on location) for N10,000 cash withdrawals.
“Let me tell you the price list, N1000–N2,400 will be N100 for withdrawal. N3500 to N4000 will be N200; N4,100 to N6,400 will be N300; N6,500 to N7,900 will be N400; N8500 to N10,900 will be N500; N11,000 to N14,000 will be N600; N14,500 to N17,900 will be N700; N18,000 to N2000 will N800 for withdrawal.
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“Like we said, depending on your location, you can also step it down for people depending on the circumstances. But it should not go more than this,” he said.
He further explained that for other transactions like deposits and transfers, agents can now charge N100 for N1,000 to N4,900; N200 for N5000 to N10,900; N300 for N11,000 to N20,900; N400 got N21,000 to N30,900; N500 for N31,000 to N40,000; and N600 for N41,100 to N50,000.
Recently, the chairman of the Lagos chapter of the association, David Abiodun, released the new price list to excos at a symposium, according to Adeoye.
“Although, we agreed that depending on one’s area, they can lower the charges. But it should not exceed these new prices. This is why we expect everyone to paste it in their locations so that customers can see it,” he said, explaining that the purpose of the list was to curb the activities of agents that were still overcharging their customers.
Regarding the implementation of the price list, the association’s PRO mentioned that they plan to utilize their connections with the police and a specialized task force operating in their area. This collaborative effort is aimed at ensuring compliance with the set prices and maintaining control over the situation.
“To enforce this new price list is easy because we have a good relationship with the Lagos State Command, Police Force, and all the DPOs in the area. Very soon a task force will be set up in each zone so that they will work along with it,” he said.
“Today, someone can get a PoS and start working, but we would soon get to everyone. Registered members have a number and certificate, and we have a good collaboration with the CBN both in Lagos and in Abuja. AMMBAN is part of meetings around financial inclusion.
“So, enforcing this will be easy for us. We have zones in almost all the local governments. So, our task force in each zone will locate those who are there. We also have our website, and everyone has to register.”
During the cash crunch, the charges of PoS operators became a national concern that the central bank threatened to withdraw the license of any operator caught inflating charges. Unfortunately, the challenge did not go away, prompting the decision of the association to announce the price list.
A lot of businesses, particularly in the informal sector, rely on PoS operators to carry out financial transactions.