The First National Bank (FNB) has undone all charges to certain customer accounts that were caused by transactions made on Binance.com, a website for trading cryptocurrencies.

This is after some customers of the First National Bank (FNB) massed up at the bank’s headquarters in Accra to lodge complaints about the dissatisfaction they were experiencing from the foreign exchange adjustments.

The bank in an attempt to quieten the situation reaffirmed its commitment to help all its cherished customers with a better banking experience, also, assuring the general public of further probing into the issue by further engagements with all stakeholders to amicably rectify the problem.

This however did not seat well with some customers as they deeply lamented about the lackadaisical approach of the bank to handle their challenge, others promising to close their accounts right after they were reimbursed as according to them, they have lost the initial trust they had with the bank.

“This is so unprofessional, how can you freeze my accounts and debit my funds and credit negative balance and later come back to tell me this Kwaku Ananse story.”
1^st Customer

“Pay me All my money…I want to close my account now”
2^nd Customer

Though the bank did not resolve the issues of its customers at the set time they promised to, that is, within the 48 hours promised, the bank has honored its word by engaging its payment gateway partners about the issue.

In a statement, the bank explained that it had a succession of engagements with its payment gateway partners with the aftermath conclusions confirming the bank’s position on and efforts placed into the settlement of the transactions on Binance.

Akweley Laryea, the Head of Retail Banking at FNB Ghana, stated that an investigation into transactions was required due to customer complaints about the impact of foreign exchange adjustments on account balances.

“Reviewing the details of customer complaints required that we quickly engage with our payment gateway partners to confirm the nature of these transactions and the complexities of the settlements which involved international merchants outside Ghana.

“These customers transacted in Ghana Cedis and that is how they paid for the transactions. The process however required a multi-currency settlement, and we are still engaging our partners to resolve this amicably.”
Akweley Laryea

FNB Issues a Temporal Directive On The Use Of Debit Cards

Until First National Bank adjusts its settlement processes with all involved parties, it is notifying its customers of their inability to use their VISA debit cards issued to them for transactions on binance.com as a temporary solution.

Akweley Laryea, Head of Retail Banking at FNB Ghana

“For now, our cards will not be enabled for crypto exchange and related transactions. We entreat our customers to be abreast with the terms and conditions on our accounts.”