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The Central Bank of Nigeria has suspended operation of the Dispute Management Portal for failed Visa and Verve card inter-bank transactions, following the restriction of movement in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States for a period of two weeks starting from 11 pm, March 30, 2020, as announced by the Federal Government.
The banks on Friday 3rd April, sent messages to their customers informing them that the dispute management portal would remain temporarily closed and processing of all transaction disputes on ATM/POS (International or Local) will be put on hold until normalcy is restored.
Access Bank Plc in a notice to its customers said if they had transactions to dispute, they should call into the Contact Centre with adequate details of the transaction(s) to be disputed.
“You will receive a case ID confirming that your complaint has been captured. However, this will remain in our system till the dispute management portal is opened for disputed transactions to be logged for resolution,” the bank said.
This implies that it will take longer than the stipulated time to receive a conclusive resolution.
Fidelity Bank Plc also issued a notice to its customers saying, “Kindly be informed that Interswitch has obtained approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to suspend operations on its Dispute Management Portal due to COVID-19 movement restrictions”.
Consequently, refunds for failed Visa and Verve card transactions on other banks ATMs and POS terminals will not be processed until the suspension is lifted the bank said.
“We, therefore, advise that you use Fidelity Bank ATMs for your cash withdrawal and also, opt for Online Banking, NIP and Instant Banking in making payments instead of POS during this period”.
Wema bank also issued a similar notice of temporary suspension of charge-back claims saying, “Please note that refund of failed verve and visa card transactions on other banks ATMs and POS terminals will no longer be processed. This is due to the suspension of operations on the Dispute Management portal by Interswitch and the Central Bank of Nigeria. This decision is in line with the current restriction of movement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the suspension is lifted, all pending refunds will be processed.
It went ahead to say that, “ We strongly recommend you use Wema bank ATMs for your cash withdrawal if you must, and preferably use our Online Banking platform ALAT, USSD – *945# and NIP in making payments”
All three banks noted that the notice did not apply to Mastercard transactions.
The dispute resolution portal is a workflow-enabled industry system designed to help banks resolve adjustments and dispute claims by their customers within the CBN stipulated time.
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