Cases relating to bank customers making instant (inter-bank) electronic fund transfers to wrong accounts, but not being able to get it resolved satisfyingly, abound within the Nigerian banking space. With weak regulations and bureaucratic challenges, consumers of banking services do not often get redress and, thus, helplessly resign to their fates.
Below is what the law says:
According to the banking regulators, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), banks are obliged to do the following upon getting a customer’s complaint:
- The sender’s bank is obligated to advice the customer or victim to contact the recipient of the wrong transfer for amicable settlement.
*Where the sender does not know the recipient or, where the recipient refuses to effect a refund to the sender (complainant), the sender’s bank having received a tenable claim from its customer shall notify the recipient’s bank.
*The recipient’s bank is required to place a lien (restriction) on the amount in the account of the recipient and thereafter obtain the consent of the recipient to execute refund.
*Where the beneficiary does not give consent, the internal auditors of the two banks (the sender’s bank and the recipient’s bank) shall mediate between the two customers within 2 weeks of the complaint to resolve the issue, and their decision shall be final.
*Where the contested beneficiary has utilized the fund such that lien could not be placed, and he/she refuses to fund the beneficiary account to facilitate refund, the recipient’s bank is mandated to watch-list the customer’s BVN while the sender’s bank is required to report the incident to law enforcement agencies.
