The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed concern over the way banks charge customers indiscriminately during transactions.
Speaking while playing host to the executive of a commercial bank, the Speaker stated that apart from charges known to the customers, there appeared to be other ‘hidden’ charges that the banks imposed on their customers.
He said the House was concerned that such a practice was making customers helpless, calling on Nigerian banks to come up with ways to address high charges on loans and other facilities they offered.
“One of the issues at stake is the rate at which banks charge customers. There are claims that banks have hidden charges. This has come up a couple of times on the floor of the House. This is something that we should look into”
Gbajabiamila also expressed concern over the kind of exploitative marketing some banks marketers are subjected to and demanded to know if that was the practice all over the world.
The speaker, who went down memory lane, told the delegation that some years back, he came up with a bill against corporate prostitution, but that it did not sail through.
Also speaking, the Chairman House Committee on Banking and Currency, Mr Victor Nwokolo, said Nigerians had been battling with the issue of high interest rates by banks and that the issue needs to be tackled head-on.
