12 Rights You Should Know As A Bank Customer In Nigeria

Being a bank customer in Nigeria comes with more than the responsibility of keeping your account funded and protecting your PIN.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Bank Customers’ Bill of Rights sets out key protections customers are entitled to when dealing with banks and other regulated financial institutions.

Here are 12 important rights every bank customer should know:

1. The right to be informed

Your bank must provide complete, relevant and truthful information about its products and services.

Before you enter into an agreement, the bank should explain the terms, conditions and applicable charges in a way you can understand. Deliberately withholding or providing misleading information amounts to a breach of this right.

2. The right to choose

You have the right to choose which banking products and services you want to use.

A bank should not force you to purchase a product or service that does not suit your needs. If you are dissatisfied with a service, you can end the contractual relationship, subject to settling outstanding obligations.

3. The right to safety

Customers have the right to a safe and conducive banking environment.

Banks are expected to take reasonable measures to protect customers from accidents, threats to their health and other safety hazards while they are on bank premises.

4. The right to privacy and confidentiality

Your bank has a duty to protect your account information and prevent unauthorised third-party access.

Your account details should not be disclosed to third parties except where the law requires disclosure or you have given your consent.

5. The right to complain and seek redress

If something goes wrong with your banking service, you have the right to complain.

Banks are required to provide a free, accessible, transparent, timely and convenient complaints mechanism. You are also entitled to updates on how your complaint is being handled and an explanation of the decision reached.

If you remain dissatisfied after exhausting the bank’s complaint process, you may seek further review through the CBN or the courts.

6. The right to good service

You have a right to value for your money and to be treated with respect and dignity by your bank and its representatives.

Banks are expected to provide quality, value-adding services and appropriate responses to customers’ needs and complaints.

7. The right to equality

Your treatment by a bank should not depend on your financial status, account balance, physical ability, age, gender, ethnicity or creed.

The CBN says customers should be treated equally, although banks may provide different privileges where those benefits are specifically attached to particular products or services.

8. The right to a free monthly statement of account

Bank customers have the right to receive a monthly statement of account at no cost.

The CBN’s Bill of Rights notes that special requests for statements may attract applicable charges.

9. The right to understand what you are signing up for

This is closely connected to the right to information but is particularly important when opening accounts, taking loans or subscribing to financial products.

Banks must provide relevant information and explain contractual terms and charges before an agreement is concluded, enabling customers to make informed choices.

10. The right to know how your complaint is being handled

Making a complaint should not mean sending a message into a black hole.

You are entitled to acknowledgement, feedback, updates and an explanation of the basis of the final decision on your complaint.

11. The right to end a banking relationship

If you are unhappy with a bank’s service, you have the right to terminate a contract or even the banking relationship, provided you have fulfilled your outstanding commitments.

In other words, a customer is not permanently tied to a bank simply because they opened an account there.

12. The right to seek further review

If your bank does not resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, the Bill of Rights provides for further review.

Depending on the circumstances, a dissatisfied customer can seek review by the bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria or the courts.

The bottom line

The CBN’s Bank Customers’ Bill of Rights makes it clear that banking is not a one-way relationship. Customers have rights, while banks have corresponding responsibilities.

But customers also have duties — including protecting their PINs, passwords and account information, repaying credit facilities when due, providing truthful information and promptly reporting suspected fraud or errors.

Knowing your rights is therefore the first step. Using them when necessary is the next.