Savings deposit account would henceforth? attract interest rate not lower than 30 per cent of the Monetary Monetary Policy Rate (MPR).
At the current MPR of 12 per cent this translates to a minimum of 3.6 per cent per annum. This is part of the fallout of the revised guidelines for bank charges which becomes effective from Monday.
The revised bank charges, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)? said, is to reflect current developments in the market and provide clarity on banking terms.
According to a circular issued to all banks and discount houses yesterday by the apex bank, the various charges in the previous guide issued in 2004 “had become out of tune with current realities in the market and some provisions and terms allowed room for ambiguity and conflict.”
The CBN had recently conducted a review of the bank charges guide in consultation with banks,? discount houses, Bankers’ Committee, financial experts as well as stakeholders in the sector to produce the new guide to bank charges.
The circular which was signed by the Acting Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department of the CBN, noted that the new guideline has made provisions that would “reduce ambiguity in loan transactions, minimum disclosure requirements for loan contracts.”
The new guideline which would replace the Revised Guide to Bank Charges isssued in 2004 would become effective form April 1, 2013.Meanwhile, the CBN has disassociated itself from social media messages purportedly by its governor.
A press statement issued by the regulator and signed by its Director,? Corporate Communication, Ugochukwu Okoroafor, said its attention “has been drawn to various postings on social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and so on), purported to have been made by the CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.