By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The headquarters of Access Bank Plc in Lagos known as Access Tower has been awarded an IFC EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) Green Building Certification.

This certification was issued in recognition of the bank’s commitment to sustainable building practices and its efforts to reduce energy consumption, water usage, and embodied carbon in building materials.

Access Bank’s Head Office has achieved a 20 per cent reduction in energy use, a 33 per cent reduction in water use, and a 99 per cent reduction in embodied carbon in materials.

The building features sustainability measures such as insulated roof, high- performance glass, fresh air pre-conditioning system, smart meters for energy, water-efficient faucets in bathrooms and kitchen, efficient water closets and low embodied carbon materials, reflecting Access Bank’s commitment to environmental responsibility.

The building implemented retrofits to meet the EDGE water standard by installing flow regulators in all their water closets, faucets and showers. These reductions in energy, water, and embodied carbon are expected to result in significant cost savings and a reduced environmental footprint for the edifice.

The EDGE Green Building certification program is supported by the Japan Government in Nigeria and globally funded by the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), with initial funding from Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

The certification is a globally recognised standard for green buildings, designed to make buildings more resource efficient.

The process involves a rigorous assessment of a building’s design and construction, including independent third-party audits, ensuring that it meets the highest standards of sustainability.

IFC’s EDGE program aims to promote green building practices globally by providing a standardised approach to designing and certifying resource-efficient buildings.

It has been utilised in nearly 200 countries, with over 100 million square metres in certified floor space, enabling developers worldwide to create buildings that reduce energy use, water consumption, and embodied carbon.

Globally, IFC collaborates with financiers, governments, developers, and building owners to accelerate green building development in emerging markets. In Nigeria, cumulatively, over 800,000 square meters of offices, homes, hospitals, retail stores, student accommodation, hotels, and mixed-use projects are EDGE-certified.

“At Access Bank, we have always understood that our purpose goes far beyond banking. We are architects of change, custodians of the future, and now, we stand proudly at the intersection of finance and environmental leadership.

“This building and this certification embody our vision to set a new standard for building, operating, and growing responsibly.

“Our collaboration with the EEN team was transformational, and together, we have shown that environmental performance and business performance are not rivals, but partners.

“We believe that in that partnership lies the future of banking, the future of corporate Africa, and ultimately, the future of our planet,” the Executive Director for Risk Management at Access Bank, Mr Gregory Jobome, stated.

By Oluwatobi Rasaq Alaka

On February 10, 2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced a new ATM withdrawal fee structure set to take effect from March 1, 2025. The goal? To reduce operational costs for banks and improve ATM access nationwide.

This announcement has sparked conversations among consumers, financial institutions, and industry experts. While the policy is positioned as a solution to Nigeria’s ATM challenges, a deeper issue remains unaddressed—transaction inefficiencies.

For years, Nigerian banking customers have struggled with ATM-related frustrations, from failed withdrawals to slow dispute resolutions and system downtimes. Will adjusting fees make ATMs more accessible? Possibly. But will it make transactions faster, more reliable, and hassle-free? That’s a different question.

The Real Issue: Inefficiency Over Cost

Nigeria has less than 22,000 ATMs, serving a population of over 200 million people, and access to cash remains difficult due to frequent cash shortages, connectivity failures, and reconciliation delays.

For many Nigerians, ATM challenges extend far beyond withdrawal fees. In a 2024 report, nearly 30% of ATM transactions failed due to network issues, cash shortages, or other operational failures.

The current system faces persistent challenges, including frequent transaction failures where customers are debited without receiving cash, leading to frustration and financial inconvenience. Dispute resolution is also slow, with refunds for failed withdrawals often taking days or even weeks to process. Additionally, the limited availability of ATMs—due to high operational costs—prevents banks from expanding their networks, resulting in long queues and restricted access to cash for many customers.

These issues indicate that while fee adjustments may increase ATM installations, they won’t necessarily make transactions more efficient or customer friendly.

Why Fees Alone Won’t Solve the Problem

The new policy is expected to help banks offset the rising cost of ATM maintenance and cash handling, potentially leading to an increase in ATM installations across the country. However, simply increasing the number of ATMs or the cash within them without improving their reliability will not solve the core issue.

Expanding the number of ATMs won’t be effective if transaction failures remain frequent. Lower fees will have little impact if customers still spend hours trying to withdraw cash. Even with improved infrastructure, adoption will be limited if trust in ATM reliability remains low.

For CBN’s initiative to truly succeed, banks need to go beyond just cost recovery and expansion—they must focus on efficiency, security, and automation in ATM transactions.

Technology as the Missing Link

One of the biggest gaps in Nigeria’s financial system is the lack of real-time, automated transaction processing for ATM withdrawals. This is where technology can play a transformational role. Several innovative financial solution technologies have the potential to revolutionize ATM efficiency. However, advancements like AI-driven fraud detection can enhance security by preventing unauthorized withdrawals, while real-time settlement solutions can eliminate delays in refunding failed transactions, improving overall customer experience and trust in the system.

Some Nigerian banks have already adopted blockchain-powered solutions for ATM transactions. These systems enable instant reconciliation and faster refunds when failures occur. Zone Payment Network, among others, has demonstrated how blockchain can streamline payment processing, reducing disputes and enhancing customer experience.

By integrating blockchain and real-time payment infrastructure, financial institutions can increase efficiency, eliminate delays, and restore consumer trust in ATM transactions.

A Holistic Approach is Needed

CBN’s new policy is a step in the right direction, but for meaningful, long-term improvements, Nigeria’s banking sector must go beyond fee adjustments. A combination of regulatory policies and technological innovation is essential to create a system where ATM transactions are not just affordable—but also seamless, fast, and reliable.

To achieve this, key stakeholders must prioritize real-time reconciliation to ensure transaction failures are resolved instantly. Investing in decentralized financial infrastructure can help reduce transaction bottlenecks, while leveraging AI and automation will optimize ATM uptime and minimize failures, ultimately improving efficiency and customer experience.

The Bigger Question

As CBN works to improve ATM accessibility through fee restructuring, financial institutions must consider the bigger picture—does Nigeria’s ATM system need more machines, or does it need better technology to ensure smooth transactions?

If we truly want to enhance financial services, the conversation must shift from fees to efficiency.

Would better technology adoption make a bigger difference than fee restructuring?

Oluwatobi Rasaq Alaka is the Corporate Communications Manager at Zone.

By Dipo Olowookere

A part of customers’ funds with Wema Bank Plc has been allegedly lost to a system glitch and the financial institution is making efforts to recover and credit it back to the owners.

Already, the lender has approached a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos for a preservative order mandating about 26 financial institutions to return the funds, about N888.3 million, traced to accounts domiciled with the.

Wema Bank, in an affidavit deposed by its Head of Special Review and Investigation, Mr Kehinde Buari, said the money was withdrawn from its accounts without authorisation during an operational failure in bank’s core banking system on January 16, 2025.

The lender informed the court that after the unfortunate incident, it instituted a probe, which showed that some recipients of the funds attempted to move, hide, or obscure the origin of the money by transferring it across multiple accounts.

According to the bank, the financial institutions, where the funds were transferred to, were swiftly alerted about the glitch and the fraudulent transactions and were urged to restrict and sequester the affected accounts.

It said these banks were cooperative as they helped to freeze N888.3 million after the support of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) to track the funds.

The old generation bank, led by Mr Moruf Oseni, said it now seeks a directive of the court to have the money and others that may further be recovered returned to its customers’ accounts.

It also begged the court to mandate the placement of affected account holders on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Credit Risk Management System and other financial watchlists through their Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) until the full recovery of the lost funds.