The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated that First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Sterling Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and others are among the Money Deposit Banks(MDBs) indebted to telecommunications companies for failing to pay for the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes assigned to them.
Other banks on the list of NCC are: Wema Bank Plc, Jaiz Bank, Fidelity Bank Plc, Polaris Bank Limited, Unity Bank Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc.
This was disclosed by the Director of Public Affairs, NCC, Reuben Muoka yesterday.
He revealed that nine of the 18 financial institutions had not complied with regulatory directives.
The NCC said that the affected banks must resolve their outstanding obligations by January 27, 2025, or risk losing access to their USSD codes.
NCC noted noted that some of the unpaid invoices have remained unpaid since 2020, which shows that there have been a prolonged financial dispute between the banks and telecom operators.
Though the NCC did not disclosed the total amount of the indebtedness, the online platform noted that the total amount initially owed by the financial institutions was put at over N200 billion.
The affected USSD codes according to NCC include : 770, 919, and 822, among others, adding that these codes are essential to enable mobile banking services and could also be reassigned to other applicants if the debts are not settled by defaulting banks.
Mobile banking services are a convenient way for customers to access their accounts and perform financial transactions without necessarily going into the banking halls.
If the affected banks lose access to their USSD codes, customers may experience difficulties in accessing their accounts and performing financial transactions and this could lead to frustration and inconvenience for customers.
The possibility of losing the USSD codes could have significant implications for customers of the affected banks.
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