Zenith Bank suspends international transaction on naira card

By ODUNEWU SEGUN

IN a notice to its customers, Zenith Bank Plc, has suspended international transactions on naira cards. The bank said effective from today, June 13, its naira card will no longer be enabled for international transactions.

According to the notice issued at the weekend, customer’s naira denominated cards will be used for local naira transactions across all payments channels. “For international transactions, please obtain any of our dollar denominated cards from Zenith Bank branches nationwide,” the statement said.

What this means is that, if you travel abroad and try to use your card, it will not work. If you shop online and the transaction is billed in any foreign currency, it will not work. If you are in Nigeria and try to use your card for a foreign currency transaction, it will not work.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria had last year in a bid to slow the flow of foreign exchange out of the country ordered commercial banks to stop customers from using their debit and credit cards abroad.

The CBN has been rationing dollar to banks, importers and other forex users as the nation’s foreign exchange reserves continue to deplete, hitting $29.4bn on December 7, 2015.

Further findings showed that a number of other banks had stopped customers from using their ATM cards abroad but had yet to officially communicate this to them.