Members of the Nigerian Bankers Committee have unanimously agreed to stop interbank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) charges in that country.

Spokesperson for the committee and managing director of First Bank, Bisi Onasanya, said the decision was in line with “popular trends'' in other parts of the world.

“Presently when you use the ATM of a bank other than your bank, there is a charge of less than a dollar, which is incurred by the account holder.

“We have decided that we will work out the modality and ensure that with immediate effect we would pass on this cost to the respective banks which bear the cost of providing services.

“No matter where you are withdrawing your money from, you will not be subjected to any charge for using the ATM,” he said.

According to him, the new policy does not cover withdrawals inside the bank when the ATMs are not working.

“But for transaction on what we call “not on us'', when you are an FBN customer and you use the ATM of a GTB bank, it is free and it will no longer bear any cost,” he explained.

Group managing director of Union Bank, Emeka Enuwa, said the banks had also decided to support mortgage liquidity facility for civil servants and private sector employees.

Enuwa expressed the committee's support for the federal government's on-going efforts to provide more affordable housing to civil servants and the middle class.

“The cost of acquiring a house for an individual, as a civil servant, is quite difficult and getting a mortgage over a long period of time had not been that easy.

“What this programme intends to achieve is to make it much easier for civil servants and private sector employees to assess financing to acquire homes for themselves at an acceptable duration and reasonable interest rate,” he said.

Speaking on the modalities for assessing the credit facility, Enuwa said the details would be provided subsequently as the framework had just been agreed on.