CBN orders banks to refund withdrawal charges in 30 states

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has ordered banks in the country to refund charges
made on customers for daily cash withdrawal or deposits exceeding set limit in the 30
states that full cashless policy transactions has not taken place. The CBN disclosed
that the new policy on cash-based transactions has not officially taken place in all the
states of the country.

Briefing newsmen after the 322 Bankers’ Committee Meeting in Lagos weekend, Mr.
Kolawole Balogun, who represented the Director Banking Supervision Department of the
CBN, Tokunbo Martins said “At the meeting we agreed that banks should refund the
charges made on customers for withdrawal and deposits in those states that cashless
policy has not taken place.”
According to him “ The cashless policy has officially taken place in five states and
federal capital, Abuja. The states are Lagos, Abia, Anambra, Kano, Ogun and Rivers
States, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The CBN has not officially
announced the take off implementation of full cashless policy in other states other than
the already stated states and federal capital territory, Abuja, due to some infrastructure
bottlenecks.
We are allowing ample time for the banks to deploy adequate infrastructure needed to
support the cashless policy as well as enable additional sensitization of various bank
customers on the merits of the policy. There are telecommunication, power and other
problems that are yet to be addressed.” The CBN has introduced a new policy on cash-
based transactions which stipulates a ‘cash handling charge’ on daily cash withdrawals
or cash deposits that exceed N150,000 for Individuals and N1,000,000 for Corporate
bodies.
The new policy on cash-based transactions (withdrawals & deposits) in banks, aims at
reducing (not eliminating) the amount of physical cash (coins and notes) circulating in
the economy, and encouraging more electronic-based transactions (payments for
goods, services, transfers, etc.).
Tokunbo further noted that the CBN will sanction delinquent debtors whose names were
published by banks if they refused to negotiate with their banks on how to pay their
debts. “The publication of debtors names is ongoing and banks will be doing this on
quarterly basis” he added.
Speaking on domiciliary account, Mr. Segun Agbaje, Chief Executive Officer, Guaranty
Trust Bank Plc said “said “The restriction on domiciliary account is just the cash
deposit. Every other things remain the same. Payment of school fees, medical
treatment etc can be done through the domiciliary account.
Any person or company that need foreign currency can go through the CBN’s window
and get whatever it wants provided it is a genuine who cannot meet the official window
requirements that can go to parallel market. The essence is to strengthen naira and
make Nigeria less import dependent.”