Nigerian Banks Start Charging N6.98 For USSD Transactions

Nigerians who use Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services are now being charged N6.98 for each transaction session.

USSD allows users who don’t have access to a smartphone, data/internet connection or physical banking infrastructure to carry out some major financial services through the use of a code..

“Welcome to USSD Banking. Please note, a N6.98 network charge will be applied to your account for banking services on this channel,” one notice read.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decided to charge users in March this year.

The decision was part of an agreement reached following a disagreement between banks and telecom firms over USSD and other text message transaction requests.

A joint statement signed by the CBN and NCC said “USSD services for financial transactions conducted at DMBs (Deposit Money Banks) and all CBN-licensed institutions will be charged at a flat fee of N6.98 per transaction.”

The charge will be removed from users’ bank accounts and remitted to mobile network operators.