While brands and corporate bodies are stepping on one another to make life easier for the Nigerian citizens amid coronavirus pandemic as the nation goes on lockdown by offering discounts, palliatives and more, United Bank of Africa, UBA, has perfected plans to introduces new charges to deduct money from their customers.
According to the bank, for every inflow into your savings account above N10,000, the bank will deduct N50 as stamp duties starting from April 1, 2020.
UBA stated that this is done based on the the new directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Recall that the bank recently donated $14mn to COVID-19 relief across Africa, while the same central bank also mobilised the private sector, led by Aliko Dangote Foundation and Access Bank, in a coalition aimed at raising N120bn towards the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria.
Pundits then wonder why the apex bank is in hurry to implement and not suspend such directive.
It was also noted that unlike the CBN, the U.S. Federal Reserve is using creative means to counter the economic shock caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.
In specific, the Fed lowered interest rates to near zero and is also using its emergency authority to set up a vehicle for lending directly to businesses, in the commercial paper market, for the first time since 2008.
Additionally, it signaled that it would now allow banks to use the capital and liquidity buffers built up over the last ten years to support higher lending among other things.
“This is definitely not socially responsible,” an industry watcher pointed out.
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