- NCC has ordered banks to stop charging USSD fees from customer accounts.
- UBA says from June 3, fees will be ₦6.98 per 120 seconds, billed from airtime.
- Customers can still use digital and Internet banking options.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to stop deducting charges for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions directly from customers’ accounts.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that the United Bank for Africa (UBA) while disclosing this to its customer via email on Tuesday, said the charges will now be deducted from users’ mobile airtime.
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The UBA said the directive takes effect from June 3 (today).
The statement read, “In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective June 3, 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from your bank account.
“Going forward, these charges will be deducted directly from your mobile airtime balance in accordance with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model.
“Under this new billing structure, each USSD session will attract a charge of ₦6.98 per 120 seconds, which will be billed by your mobile network operator.
“You will receive a consent prompt at the start of each session, and airtime will only be deducted upon your confirmation and availability of the bank to fulfil this service.
“If you do not wish to continue using USSD banking under this new model, you may choose to discontinue use of the USSD channel.”
Meanwhile, the UBA stated that customers can continue using other digital banking options and Internet banking platforms for convenience.
This new directive may be another move by the commission to address the historical USSD payment conflict between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and commercial banks.
