Every Nigerian holding a naira debit or credit card stopped paying card maintenance fees on May 1. The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed all banks to scrap the charge permanently, which is the most significant update to its banking fees framework since January 2020.
The directive arrives through a revised Guide to Charges by Banks and Other Financial Institutions. It replaces rules set six years ago and applies to every CBN-regulated institution: commercial banks, microfinance banks, payment service banks, and mobile money operators.
Virtual cards remain free. Email transaction alerts are now mandated at zero cost. The CBN said the changes aim to improve competition, transparency, and standardisation across Nigeria’s financial system.
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What the Card Fee Changes Signifies
Card maintenance is gone. The recurring monthly deduction from naira accounts ends under the new framework, regardless of which bank issued the card.
Card replacement costs more. Issuing or replacing a debit or credit card now costs ₦1,500, up from ₦1,000. That is a one-time cost replacing an ongoing one; most customers come out ahead.
Banks cannot apply charges that exceed the available account balance. Any outstanding fee must wait until the account is funded before deduction. That clause closes a gap that had allowed some institutions to push accounts into negative territory through fee stacking.
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ATM Withdrawals and Transfers: The New Numbers
Customers withdrawing from another bank’s ATM pay ₦100 per ₦20,000 at on-site machines and those inside bank branches. Off-site ATMs at petrol stations, shopping malls, and public locations can add a surcharge of up to ₦500 per transaction. Banks must disclose the surcharge before the transaction completes, not after.
Electronic transfers keep a tiered structure. Transfers at or below ₦5,000 carry no fee. Transfers above ₦5,000 up to ₦50,000 attract a ₦10 charge. Transfers above ₦50,000 cost ₦50. For most everyday Nigerian transactions, vendor payments, family transfers, and small business settlements, the free tier covers the majority.
POS and Merchant Charges
POS payments remain free on the customer side. The merchant bears the service charge, now standardised at 0.5 percent of transaction value and capped at ₦10,000, regardless of payment method. High-volume retailers should model what that cap means for monthly operating costs.
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Current Accounts: Fees Phased out by 2027
Savings account holders get immediate relief. Current account holders get a timeline. The CBN retained account maintenance fees for current accounts but capped the rate at ₦0.5 per mille for 2026. That rate drops to zero in 2027.
The charge remains negotiable within the cap. Banks must tell customers upfront when a fee is negotiable; that right cannot be buried in fine print or disclosed only on request.
Any new banking fee not listed in the guide requires written CBN approval before implementation. That provision closes the creative charge-labelling loophole that proliferated under the previous framework.
The CBN framed the revised guide as a move against hidden and excessive charges, a problem Nigerian bank customers have documented for years. For a full breakdown of every figure in the new framework, see the CBN’s official circular.
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