In a rather shocking move, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the decision to restrict cash withdrawals from over-the-counter, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to ₦100, 000 and ₦500, 000 per week for individuals and corporate organisations, respectively from next year.
The apex bank made this disclosure on Tuesday in a circular signed by the Director, the Banking Supervision Department of CBN, Mr. Haruna Mustafa to all deposit money banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions (OFIs).
He stated that daily withdrawal from ATMs will now be ₦20,000 subject to ₦100,000 per week.
The CBN also directed DMBs and OFIs to load only N200 and lower denominations into their ATMs.
However, these positions were not acceptable to mobile money operators as well as the organised banks’ customers, who have now threatened to take steps to express their opposition to the new regulations.
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The CBN circular which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York stated: ‘Further to the launch of the redesigned naira notes by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, and in line with the cashless policy of CBN, all deposit money banks and other financial institutions are hereby directed to note and comply with the following: the maximum cash withdrawal over the counter by individuals and corporate organizations per week shall henceforth be N100,000 and N500,000 respectively.
“Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of 5.0 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively; third-party cheques above N50,000 shall not be eligible for payment over the counter, while extant limits of N10 million on clearing cheques still subsist; the maximum cash withdrawal per week via Automated Teller Machine shall be N100,000 subject to a maximum of N20,000 cash withdrawal per day.
“Only denominations of N200 and below shall be loaded into the ATMs; the maximum cash withdrawal via the point of sales terminals shall be N20,000 daily.
“In compelling circumstances, not exceeding once a month, where cash withdrawals above the prescribed limits are required for legitimate purposes, such cash withdrawals shall not exceed N5 million and N10 million for individuals and corporate organisations, respectively, and shall be subject to the referenced processing fees in (1) above, in addition to enhanced due diligence and further information requirements.
“Further to (6) above, you are required to obtain the following information at the minimum and upload same on the CBN portal created for the purpose.”
Meanwhile, the apex bank also, in another circular yesterday, signed by the Director, Payments Systems Management Department, Mr. Musa Jimoh, warned banks and acquirers to desist from the practice of deploying devices that discriminate between payment cards during banking transactions.
The regulator noted that this practice was against the provisions of the Guidelines on operations of Electronic Payment Channels in Nigeria (June 2020).