Nov 26 (Lagos) - The network issues at Nigerian banks have increased sharply over the past 2-3 months. Twitter is filled up with posts against some of biggest banks like
GTCO ,
ZENITHBANK with customers describing their various issues.
The cash shortage issue has also not been resolved till now. Customers in Lagos cannot get cash from ATM's and banking halls but can get all the cash from POS operators sitting outside Banks. You can find posts where people are openly complaining that bank managers have friends and relatives who operate POS businesses and sell cash to them. CBN started their investigation on the matter almost 1 year ago, till now we did not hear anything about it. Maybe all is well and this is the way they want Naira to be sold on the streets like suya and amala.
An interesting post of twitter (now called X) alleges that
ACCESSCORP deducted 500 million from a deceased person's account. The story is being covered by VERYDARKMAN and he is exposing Access Bank openly and is advising Nigerians to follow the case very carefully because it could affect them when they die and their next of kin do not see the money in their accounts as bank managers steal the money. This story is very hot on X right now and Access Bank marketing managers must be scrambling to contain the damage to their brand.
Other banks say they are upgrading their systems but that is leading to money vanishing from people's bank accounts who then have to approach bank managers and start begging them to reserve transactions. This was an ordeal faced by Sterling Bank (STERLINGNG) customers recently.
Other customers are still complaining about delays in processing of transactions from banks like
STANBIC and GT again.
The issues in the banking system are very real.
Most newspapers refuse to cover the story which is a mystery while some suspect the reason is that most of the advertising revenue of newspapers comes from banks through advertisements. So they are scared to write negatively about banks.
There could be some truth in that who knows.
But what is alarming is that CBN is not taking any action against the Banks and simply watching the show unfold. Whether it is currency shortages or alarming network issues, there seems to be no action from the apex bank.
So Banks get to raise fresh capital to meet the new capital requirements - which itself shows how inefficient our banks have come that they have to keep raising funds.
You still love the situation - go ahead and buy their shares.
There are big problems being swept under the carpet. Sooner or later they are going to come out. Remember that.
reporting for easykobo.com on Tuesday, Nov 26 2024 from Lagos, Nigeria