Transfer money between Nigerian bank accounts for free

Or cheaper than your bank would charge anyway ;)

Before May 2017, the average charge for inter-bank funds transfers across Nigerian banks was 100 Naira per transaction. However, the CBN recently issued an edict to all Nigerian banks which stipulates that from May 1 2017, commercial banks are to charge exactly 50 Naira for funds transfers to other local banks.

CBN charge specification for Electronic Funds transfer within Nigeria (Commercial banks)

Interestingly, while the CBN guide separates the charges for inter-bank and intra-bank transfer for micro-finance banks, there's no such distinction for commercial banks. Hence, it seems to be at the individual bank's discretion to decide the charge (or lack thereof) for intra-bank transactions.

CBN charge specification for Electronic Funds transfer within Nigeria (MFBs)

In spite of the bank-wide reduction in electronic transfer charges, there are still cheaper ways to transfer money between Nigerian bank accounts without using a bank-controlled channel. I share the details of the ones I'm aware of at the moment below.

Kudi.ai (Kudi-dot-ai, a payment chatbot)

Buying airtime from the kudi.ai chatbot

Essentially, you can do electronic transfer from your Nigerian bank account by chatting with a robot; that's it. You can use any of the following options to interact with the chatbot:

• Facebook Messenger
• Skype Messenger
• Telegram (who uses that in Nigeria?)
• Web via browser (https://chat.kudi.ai)

Just visit https://www.kudi.ai to begin. 'Kudi' is a Hausa word which translates to 'money'. Maybe one day, I will vex and go and build my own Owo.ai too :D [rushes to go check if owo.ai domain name has been claimed]

Yes! Now I have all I need to give kudi.ai a run for its money

FUN FACT: Did you know that the .ai TLD (top-level domain) is for Anguilla?

Kudi.ai will also allow you do the other usual electronic transactions like buying airtime and paying utility bills. As at the time of writing this article, the only payment option available for use on kudi.ai is the ATM card linked to your bank account. So far, I've been able to use my GTB Naira Mastercard and my Fidelity Verve card successfully on Kudi.ai.

I won't be surprised though, if when this really gains transaction, Nigerian banks started blocking their cards from working on kudi.ai as a way to slow transaction income leakage. I think that would be a huge blow from the banks in the epic Bank vs. FinTech battles.

If this happens, it won't be the first time a Nigerian bank pulled that kind of move. Back in 2013/2104 when Interswitch Quickteller gained a lot of traction, it did not take long for GTBank to restrict their customers' usage of Quickteller for electronic transfers. Of course, this meant that the customer had only one option to transfer money out of their GTBank account; use a GTBank-controlled channel (online/mobile/USSD/branch).

ThriveSend

Thrivesend charges 45 Naira only for local bank transfers. Just like Kudi, the only payment option available is your ATM card . As long as that remains the case, services like this only survive as long as each Nigerian bank allows its card to work on the platform. Sad.

Is there a CBN edict that would prevent a bank from doing this? I'm curious.

Es sir; but haven't you heard of Kudi.ai yet?

Conclusion

I can empathize with the strong inhibition many Nigerians have towards sharing their card information online with third parties. However, from my experience of using my debit card online for the past 5 years and having never been a victim of any online fraud, I would say it's pretty safe to use your card online in Nigeria. Below are some precautions I take to mitigate the risk of card fraud on my Nigerian bank accounts:

• I ensure the merchant's website and/or payment platform is fairly reputable and that they are SSL-secured (Have 'https' in the URL)

• I don't keep my life savings in an account which is linked to any of my cards

Happy free transfer through Kudi.ai; while stocks last. Also, feel free to act on that impulse to transfer some coffee money to me for providing you with this juicy information. Yes, I had to take coffee to stay up to rewrite this article after losing the initial draft to a careless page refresh :'( :'(

Off topic: Zoto recharge versus USSD recharge

Talking about sharing card details with third parties reminds me of a time when I tried to get my friend to sign up to Zoto app. Signing up requires entering your card details into the app and doing an OTP/token verification against your bank. For one, my friend was wary about using his card on yet another 'Nigerian' app. Also, the trouble was apparently not worth it, considering the existence of very seamless USSD recharge which everyone in Nigeria who has an ATM card account today can potentially access.

So, that my friend, is how I missed a golden opportunity to win free 1000 Naira airtime (Zoto referral reward) for me (and my friend). Obviously, even 1000 Naira free airtime was not enough motivation for my friend to join the Zoto app. I can only imagine what the fate of Zoto would be when their airtime-sharing spree comes to an end. The odds are just against a mobile app if the same service it offers is easily accessible over USSD.

Zoto recharge vs. USSD recharge; odds are against Zoto

P.S.

If you know of any cheap or free electronic transfer method within Nigeria which is not listed here, kindly share the details in the comments section below. After due verification, the article will be updated accordingly.