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Consistent network disruption and declined transactions with debits are costing mobile money operators a huge chunk of their profits and reputation, investigation has shown.
Operators who spoke with our correspondent lamented that network disruptions often triggered failed transaction on the Point of Sales terminals but a debit from the customer’s bank account.
According to the operators who offer services such as cash-in, cash-out, airtime vending and bill payments, some banks that have not adopted automatic reversal of failed transactions delay refunds into customers’ account.
A mobile money operator with agents in Kwara and Saki in Oyo State, Mr Oluwasegun Abbey, said nothing had changed despite the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure failed transactions with debits were reversed within 24 hours.
According to him, the delay often lasts for up to three weeks and in some instances a month.
“Most of the challenges persist till now. The banks still debit people without reversal even after 24 hours. Some persist till three weeks before it is reversed,” he added.
He said, “Some banks do auto-reversal but some even after complaits will give you seven days, some 14 days and other 21 days.”
Checks by our correspondent on the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme platform showed that transactions on PoS terminals had 13.4 per cent failure rate with customer and issuer bank errors contributing the most to the declined payments.
Another operator with agents in Ibadan, Mr Wale Olayemi, explained that due to threats he had received from customers in the past, whenever there was a failed transaction, he paid them with his personal funds. Related News It was tough getting recognition in male-dominated business — Akpata Group to engage experts on ease of doing business Ogun launches N900m fund for business
When asked how he recoups his money, Olayemi said most times such customers did not return the money even after the banks must have reversed the transactions while a few sincere ones returned his money.
A Director at Access Point, a mobile money company which operates in Ife, Okitipupa, Ekiti State and Ore, Ondo State, Mr Tope Alao, said network signal fluctuations in areas where he operated had led to declined transactions many times.
According to him, he had to spend money and extra time accompanying his customer to bank branches to resolve refund issues.
The President, Association of Mobile Money Agents in Nigeria, Mr Victor Olojo, explained that though some of the failed transactions stemmed from network disruptions, technology glitches contributed significantly to declined transactions.
Olojo observed that declined transactions were high during peak transaction periods and festive season.
Chief Executive Officer, Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility, Ms Ronke Kuye, explained that it had partnered with the banks on how to resolve issues faced by super agents in a timely manner.
“What we do at SANEF is that we work with the banks to make sure they resolve any customer complaints from the agents,” Kuye added.
According to her, the facility is designing a comprehensive training and processes for resolving issues between super agents and banks.
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