- Electronic transfer: N537bn; maintenance fees: N224bn
Nigerian banks are under fire yet again after fresh data revealed they collectively earned a staggering N760 billion from customers’ accounts in 2024, intensifying public anger over excessive charges.
Data analysed by The Point showed that ten major banks earned the amount through electronic transfer fees and account maintenance charges.
The banks, United Bank for Africa, Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company, First Bank Holdings, Fidelity Bank, FCMB, Stanbic IBTC, Sterling Bank, Wema Bank, and Unity Bank, have turned routine banking services into a money-making machine, exploiting millions already weighed down by economic hardship.
Records showed that electronic transfer charges alone gulped customers of N537 billion in 2024, while N224 billion was stripped from accounts as maintenance fees.
In 2023, the banks pocketed another N312.9 billion from electronic transactions and N148.7 billion from maintenance fees, steadily draining wealth from an already embattled public.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s guidelines attempt to regulate these charges, but enforcement is weak, and banks continue to push the boundaries.
Under current rules, maintenance fees should not exceed N1 per mile of customer-initiated debits on current accounts. Yet across Nigeria, customers complain of multiple, unexplained deductions.
UBA led the pack in sheer volume of deductions, pulling N236.3 billion from electronic transactions alone in 2024, and another N125.6 billion in 2023.
Account maintenance fees added N30.5 billion and N20.2 billion respectively across those years. Altogether, UBA squeezed N412.6 billion from its customers in just 24 months.
Zenith Bank, the country’s second-largest by assets, charged its customers N80 billion for e-transfers in 2024 and N51.8 billion in 2023. Account maintenance charges cost Zenith customers an extra N72.9 billion and N47.2 billion. The two-year total reached a staggering N252 billion.
First Bank Holdings was no less aggressive. Customers paid N76.8 billion for electronic banking in 2024 and N66.3 billion in 2023. Maintenance fees stripped away another N36.9 billion and N22.3 billion. In two years, First Bank clients lost N202.4 billion to service charges.
At GTCO, customers paid N56.6 billion in 2024 and N40.8 billion in 2023 for electronic transactions. Account maintenance fees added N32.1 billion and N22.8 billion, making a total of N152.2 billion taken from customers.
The pattern was the same across other banks. FCMB collected N52.9 billion, Wema Bank took N32.7 billion, and Fidelity Bank charged N31.4 billion in fees between 2023 and 2024.
Stanbic IBTC extracted N25.9 billion, while Sterling Bank removed N26.6 billion before it recently announced a halt to transfer fees starting April 2025. Unity Bank, although smaller, still managed to draw N9 billion from its customers.
There was public anger after Sterling Bank, in an unusual move, publicly criticized the industry’s fee practices while declaring an end to its own transfer charges. “Enough is enough,” the bank said in a statement that electrified social media. “It’s time to end this silent war against Nigerians’ hard-earned money.”
But the other banks have remained silent, continuing to deduct fees quietly as the backlash grows. With inflation at record highs, widespread unemployment, and a fragile economy, millions of Nigerians are increasingly questioning whether the banks are serving the public or simply feeding off it.
Financial experts warn that unchecked bank charges could trigger a wave of disillusionment with the formal financial system.
Already, informal savings groups are regaining popularity in some parts of the country, as trust in the banks erodes.
