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Introduction

The words ‘banker’ and ‘bank’ are frequently used interchangeably. Banker may be defined as an incorporated body carrying on the business of receiving deposits on current account, savings account or other similar account; paying or collecting cheques that are drawn by or paid in by customer; provision of finance; or such other business as the Governor may, by order published in the Federal Gazette and designate as banking business. Banks are primarily engaged in the business of banking as their core function.

A customer is any person having an account with a bank or for whom a bank has agreed to collect items and this includes a bank having an account with another bank. 

THE BANKER-CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

The relationship subsisting between banker and customer is basically contractual and fundamentally that of Debtor and Creditor. It also consists of general and special contracts arising from the particular requirements of the banking business. As such, the relationship existing between banker and customer cannot be exhausted. Therefore, the services rendered or products sold by bank to its customer would always determine what relationship subsists between Bankers and Customers at any point in time.

These relationships include but not limited to;

1. Relationship of Debtor and Creditor: When a customer opens an account with a bank and if the account has a credit balance, then the relationship is that of debtor (banker/bank) and creditor (Customer.) The customer has the right to demand back his money whenever he wants it from the banker and the banker must repay the balance to the customer. A customer remains a creditor only when there is credit balance in his account with the banker. The creditor (the customer) must demand payment as the debtor (banker) will not repay the debt on his own. However, in case of fixed deposits, the bank must inform a customer about maturity. The creditor must demand for the payment at the right time, place and in a proper manner. The demand must be in form of cheques, withdrawal slips, or pay order. Now-a-days, banks allow e-banking, ATM, mobile-banking, etc. In case of loan/advance accounts, the banker is the creditor, and the customer is the debtor because the customer owes money to the banker. The banker can demand the repayment of the loan/advance on the due date and the customer has to repay the debt. 

• Relationship of Pledger and Pledgee: This happens when the customer pledges (promises) certain assets or security with the bank in order to get a loan. In this case, the customer becomes the Pledger, and the bank becomes the Pledgee. Under this agreement, the assets or security will remain with the bank until a customer repays the loan. 

• Relationship of Licensor and Licensee: This happens when the banker gives a sale deposit locker to the customer. So, the banker will become the Licensor, and the customer will become the Licensee. 

• Relationship of Bailor and Bailee: Bailment is a contract for delivering goods by one party to another to be held in trust for a specific period and returned when the purpose is ended. Bailor is the party that delivers property to another and Bailee is the party to whom the property is delivered. So, when a customer gives a sealed box to the bank for a safe keeping, the customer becomes the bailor and the bank, the bailee. 

• Relationship of Trustee and Beneficiary: A trustee holds property for the beneficiary, and the profit earned from this property belongs to the beneficiary. If the customer deposits securities or valuables with the banker for safe custody, the banker becomes a trustee of his customer. The customer is the beneficiary; the ownership, however, remains with the customer.

• Relationship of Principal and Agent: The banker acts as an agent of the customer (principal) by providing the following agency services:
• Buying and selling securities on his behalf.
• Collection of cheques, dividends, bills or promissory notes on his behalf.
• Acting as a trustee, attorney, executor, correspondent or representative of a customer.
• The banker as an agent performs many other functions such as payment of insurance premium, electricity and gas bills, handling tax problems, etc.

• Relationship of Advisor and Client: When a customer invests in securities, the banker acts as an advisor. The advice can be given officially or unofficially. While giving advice the banker has to take maximum care and caution. Here, the banker is an Advisor, and the customer is a Client.

• Obligation to honour cheques: As long as there is sufficient balance in the account of the customer, the banker must honour all his cheques. The cheques must be complete and in proper order. They must be presented within six months from the date of issue. However, the banker can refuse to honour cheques where they reasonably suspect fraud or the account has been frozen by relevant authorities.

• Secrecy of customer’s account: When a customer opens an account in a bank, the banker must not give information about the customer’s account to others. Exceptions to the duty of secrecy are; where the bank has to give evidence in legal proceedings, where disclosure is made with express or implied consent of the customer, where the bank is suing for an overdraft and where there is duty to the public to disclose.

1. Banker’s right to claim incidental charges: A banker has a right to charge a commission, interest or other charges for the various services given by him to the customer. For example, an overdraft facility.

PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE BANKER AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP                    

The aim of any manager of a bank is to satisfy the need and desires of his customers. The customer relative’s desk is the heart beat of any banking operations. Though efforts have been made towards achieving a good relationship between Bankers and Customers, it has however not been easy due to the following problems;

1. Poor attitude to work by bank staff.
2. Frauds perpetrating by both bank staff and customers.
3. Inadequate modern equipment; such as computer.
4. The problem of distress in the industry.
5. Poor communication services, unreliable power supply and telecommunication system.
6. Lack of adequate training on the part of the staff.
7. Lack of education and experienced staff.

TERMINATION OF THE BANKER/CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

The Banker and Customer relationship terminates when any of these occurs:

• Termination by the Customer
• Termination by the bank
• Termination by Law:
• Death of the customer;
• Mental incapacity of the customer
• Bankruptcy or insolvency of the bank or customer.

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BENEFITS OF GOOD BANKER/CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

There are significant benefits Banks and Customers can derive from good relationships with each other. These include:

BENEFITS TO BANKS

1. Effective and efficient operation
2. Increase customer satisfaction
3. Growth in number of customers
4. Maximization of opportunities (i.e. increased services, referrals)
5. Increase access to a source of market competitor information.
6. Highlighting poor operational processes.
7. Long-term profitability and sustainability

BENEFITS TO CUSTOMERS

1. Risk and stress reduction
2. High-quality service

CONCLUSION

The Nigerian banking industry must understand the importance of Customer Relationship Management in improving the organizational performance of the banks. Banks should focus on increasing their employee’s knowledge-ability and improving their attitude to ensure higher levels of customer relationship management. Effective discharge of Customers and Bankers various rights as well as duties they are both bound with, would go a long way to aid their relationship. Also, Banks should ensure safety of e-banking transactions thereby protecting and safeguarding the interest of customers.

References

1. Banker and customer relationship in Nigeria banking industry by Modish (online) August 20, 2019 Www.modishproject.com/banker-and-customer-relationship-in-nigeria-banking-industry

2. Www.grossarchive.com/project/592/an-evaluation-of-bank-and-customer-relationship-in-nigeria-banking-service

Written By: IBUKUN AJOMOLE ESQ.

Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage and audiovisual systems, that enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information. The term ICT is also used to refer to the convergence of audiovisual and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system (Wikipedia, 2020)[1].

 It is no longer a news that the world is in the digital age especially with 4.57billion internet users in the world today which represent 59% of the total global population. On the average, each internet user spend 6hours 42minutes per day using the internet (datareportal, 2020)[2]. As a matter of fact, we are living in a constantly evolving digital world. ICT has an impact on nearly every aspect of our lives – from working to socializing, learning to playing.

The digital age has transformed the way young people communicate, network, seek help, access information and learn. We must recognize that young people are now an online population and access information through a variety of means such as computers, TV and mobile phones etc. This is the reason why educational technology and e-learning is taught in or out of the classroom since educational technology is used by learners and educators in homes, schools, businesses, and other settings. It is in this view that this write-up considers the benefits of ICT in our daily life if well leveraged on through new technologies.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have been at the heart of economic changes for more than a decade. ICT sector plays an important role, notably by contributing to rapid technological progress and productivity growth. Firms use ICTs to organize transnational networks in response to international competition and the increasing need for strategic interaction. (Ýsmail Seki, 2008)[3].

Here are some benefits of ICT:

Economic Benefit: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has an important economic role in the world since we are now in the information age era. With ICT, the company can make the business easier to happen with the client, supplier and the distributor. It is also very important in our daily business lives. The lack of appropriate information at the right time will result in low productivity, low quality research works, and waste of time to pursue information and even to do research which actually others had done or in other countries. Nowadays ICT cannot be separated with our daily economic needs.

Digital computer and networking has changed our economy concept to the economy with no boundary in time and space because of ICT. It brings a lot of advantages for economic development enabling millions of transactions to happen in an easy and fast way.

Educational Benefits: The use of ICT in education add value in teaching and learning, by enhancing the effectiveness of learning, or by adding a dimension to learning that was not previously available. ICT may also be a significant motivational factor in students’ learning, and can support students’ engagement with collaborative learning. It helps our learning process and educational life as many people leverage on the internet to teach their children, read local newspaper using the online newspaper and get information.

ICT improves quality of human life when its being used as a learning and education media. The mass communication media could be used as a way of promoting and campaigning practical and important educational issues relating to health and social life. It provides wider knowledge and can help in gaining and accessing information.

Career and Social Benefits: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of organizations find it difficult to continue their day to day activities without violating the social distancing measure. But with ICT, we now have organizations, religious institutions and political offices organizing interview, meetings, webinars, conferences, conventions, seminars, services and tutorials via teleconferencing which now help people career wise and allow them to work remotely/virtually. ICT has broken the barrier of location as it is very easy for people to still get connected with family, friends, relatives, or colleagues even if in abroad by using the electronic mail, yahoo messenger, call conference, or video conference.

Entertainment Benefits: ICT has made our entertainment life easy as we could watch entertainment and media contents such as art works, music, videos, news and games online. With ICT watching more shows and films on streaming services, using social media, messenger services, music streaming services, playing computer or video games are now easy activities.

Daily Life Benefits: Finally, ICT has become an integral part of everyday life for many people. It makes life easy for people especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of people were able to cope with covid-19-related lockdowns, kept their children entertained and engaged, helps people with their shopping, improve their mental health and wellbeing, helps improve their income and finances.

Importance of ICT in people’s lives can neither be overemphasized nor exhausted and it is on the increase and is expected that this trend will continue, to the extent that ICT literacy will become a functional requirement for people’s work, social, and personal lives[4].

Written by AYOBAMI, Olatunde M.

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communications_technology

[2] https://datareportal.com

[3] Ýsmail Seki, 2008. “The Importance of ICT for the Knowledge Economy: A Total Factor Productivity Analysis for Selected OECD Countries,” Papers of the Annual IUE-SUNY Cortland Conference in Economics, in: Oguz Esen & Ayla Ogus (ed.), Proceedings of the Conference on Emerging Economic Issues in a Globalizing World, pages 72-90, Izmir University of Economics.

[4] https://pcdreams.com.sg/importance-of-information-and-communications-technology-ict-in-our-daily-life/