CBN Fines Banks N430m over Customer Complaints
Last update: July 29, 2026
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Got a bank complaint that’s been dragging for months? The CBN is finally cracking the whip — and banks are paying dearly for it.
Here’s the gist, via cbinews.tv:
The Central Bank of Nigeria is not playing around anymore when it comes to customer service. According to its 2025 Annual Report, the apex bank slammed financial institutions with 21 penalties totalling a whopping N430 million — all for messing about with customer complaints.
And what were the offences? The CBN said it plainly: “delays in resolving customer complaints to failure to comply with the Bank’s directives.” In other words, ignoring you when you complain now has a price tag.
And it seems Nigerians are speaking up more than ever. The CBN received 23,129 complaints in 2025, up 10.53% from 20,925 in 2024. But here’s the interesting bit — the bank says that’s not because services got worse, but because more people now trust its complaints process to actually work. They managed to resolve 18,824 of those complaints.
The money involved is staggering. Local currency claims jumped to N40.61 billion from N17.13 billion the year before, while foreign currency claims shot up to $344.2 million. The good news? Customers got a lot back — N19.12 billion and $329.3 million in refunds in 2025, compared to just N9.66 billion and $0.67 million in 2024.
And that N430 million isn’t even the full picture. The CBN disclosed it also hammered banks with another 11 penalties worth N1.26 billion for other regulatory breaches and for failing to respond to its queries.
So, what should you know?
This is all part of a wider shake-up. The CBN has set up a dedicated Compliance Department to keep a closer eye on market conduct, complaints, adverts, cybersecurity and more. And Governor Olayemi Cardoso recently revealed that the CBN and the deposit money banks are reviewing those confusing transaction alerts and excessive charges we all complain about. He said there’s now a quarterly sit-down with the CBN’s consumer protection team, DMBs, and the top 10 microfinance banks to thrash out unresolved cases.
Moral of the story? If your bank is giving you the runaround, escalate it to the CBN. It looks like they’re actually listening now.
Source: cbinews.tv / CBN 2025 Annual Report
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