POS operators lament electronic levy, may hike charges

Operators of Point of Sale (POS) have criticised the implementation of the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) on their transactions, saying it has affected their profit margin from the current transaction charges from customers.

Daily Trust reports that the implementation became effective on Monday, imposing N50 on transfers from N10,000 on fintech account holders as obtained with Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

Daily Trust learnt that POS attendants charge N100 on transactions less than N5,000 and N200 on N10,000, but with the newly introduced levy, they might need to review their charges.

A POS attendant, Kingsley Aziha, who uses Palmpay, expressed displeasure, saying charges being deducted had affected his profit margin, blaming it on the newly introduced EMTL for fintechs.

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He implored the government to reduce the tariff that had been imposed, mulling to increase his charges.

He said, “We collect N100 on every transaction and cannot tell customers to pay N120 or N150.”

Awele Okafor, who uses both Moniepoint and Firstmonie, said, “For Moniepoint, they have increased their tariff, but for Firstmonie wallet, I just got it, I do not know if they will still increase later on.

“Actually, they had been doing it before at the rate of N20, but I now found out that it is not cheaper when someone transfers to me.”

She pleaded with the government to reduce the tariff.

However, Ebenezer Adeyi who uses Opay,said, “I like their programme; they do not deduct money anyhow on Opay. I don’t know about other service providers, I only use Opay.”

Chairman of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Prof. Adebayo Adams in a chat with Daily Trust said the small businesses cannot survive the newly introduced levy.

“The small business cannot survive on it. That is the only thing the masses are enjoying . It is like putting salt on the injury of the masses. We condemn it in totality and we are not in support of that.”

According to him, the small businesses are highly affected by the introduction of EMTL on Fintechs. The policy is not masses-friendly. If you charge me when I transfer, why are you charging the person receiving it?