Some customers, however, condemned the introduction and called for sanctions from the regulatory body.
Mr Joshua Abraham, a trader, said it was unfortunate that First Bank should introduce such a charge.
``I did not even notice, but if that is the case, they want to discourage us.
Mrs Uju Nwanze, a legal practitioner, said the CBN should stop the charge.
`` This is another way to get back the N100 charges they just stopped recently on use of ATM cards. These banks are good at exploiting people, they did not even give prior notice like sending text messages.''
Also, Ejiro Fidel, a civil servant, said First Bank should not copy the new generation banks to rip off customers.
``They did not even care to inform their customers about this development, this is unlike them. Civil servants use First Bank a lot because we believe they are better than most of these new banks.
``What maintenance are they doing on the card, this is very wrong and I hope that those in charge would stop them from doing so.
``I think that they should focus on how to encourage customers to use the card than discouraging them. This new charge is really anti-customer friendly,’’ he said.
It would be recalled that the Bankers' Committee meeting of November 2012, scrapped the N100 interbank charge on use of ATM cards.
First Bank had on February 11, increased its charges on interbank money transfer, against moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria for a downward review of bank charges on customers.
NAN