The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revised ATM withdrawal fees for Nigerians, with the new charges taking effect from 1 March 2025.
Confirmed in a circular signed by John Onojah, acting director of the Financial Policy and Regulation Department, the goal is to address high costs of operations and enhance banking services across the country.
“In response to rising costs and the need to improve efficiency of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) services in the banking industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed the ATM transaction fees prescribed in Section 10.7 of the extant CBN Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions, 2020. (the Guide).”
While withdrawals from ATMs belonging to a customer’s bank will remain free, transactions carried out on ATMs of other banks will now attract a charge of ₦100 per ₦20,000 withdrawal.
Added to this, if the ATM is located off-site—outside a bank’s premises—users will incur a surcharge of up to ₦500 per ₦20,000 withdrawal.
The CBN clarified that this surcharge is an income for the ATM deployer or acquirer and must be clearly displayed for customers at the point of withdrawal.
For Nigerians making withdrawals abroad using debit or credit cards, banks will apply a cost recovery fee charged by the international acquirer.
Again, the three free ATM withdrawals previously allowed per month for customers using another bank’s ATM have been scrapped. The central bank stated that this adjustment aligns with its goal of ensuring efficient ATM deployment nationwide.
“This review is expected to accelerate the deployment of ATMs and ensure that appropriate charges are applied by financial institutions to consumers of the service,” the circular stated.
Banks and other financial institutions have been directed to implement these new charges from 1 March 2025.
