Relief has come the way of customers of Access Bank Plc as the bank has reversed its debits on their accounts for payment of Stamp Duty Charge.
The bank decided to bear the commitment of each customer following complaints by some customers when debit alerts reached them and they raised their own alert over the deductions which were effected on the accounts for the period of February, March and April 2020.
Access Bank said it decided to remit these funds through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to the Federal Government on behalf of the affected customers, accepting that the bank was late in debiting the customers’ accounts for the charge during the affected months.
Stamp Duty Charge Collection is backed by law, and is in compliance with the mandate of the ‘Finance Act, 2019’ (Stamp Duty Act, Cap S8). Under the Act, banks are required to apply this charge as applicable and remit all funds collected to the Federal Government.
Access Bank had obviously not charged Stamp Duty on some accounts from February to April 2020 as provided in the Act.
The bank said in a statement: ‘We have heard our customers’ feedback that this charge is unwelcome, especially at this time against a challenging economic backdrop. We have considered your feedback and have decided to pay the Stamp Duty on our customers’ behalf for the affected period only.”
It stated that “all individual and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who were debited for the accumulated Stamp Duty Charge for February to April 2020, will be refunded.
Many of the customers have confirmed receiving credit alerts yesterday to notify that the debits on their accounts had been reversed and the money credited to them, and some have hailed the bank for being customer-friendly and responsive.
The Bank Management expressed the hope that “this gesture goes some way to make this better and we would like to thank you all our customers who reached out to us to share their views”.
Some other banks have in the past engaged in debiting customers with several charges which they claim were not done for the months they were due. Such deductions have always gone down, without such banks blinking an eye or making refunds to the affected customers.
Financial analysts feel that the move by Access Bank may put pressure on other financial institutions to listen to their customers’ complaints and do the needful as has been done in this case.
