CBN restricts withdrawal of foreign currency deposits

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has restricted the process of cash withdrawal of electronic transfer deposits made into domiciliary accounts.

The apex bank disclosed in a tweet, stating that deposits made through electronic transfers into domiciliary accounts can only be transferred but cannot be withdrawn as cash over the counter.

The CBN added that cash deposits also made into domiciliary accounts can only be withdrawn as cash over the counter and not transferred out of the domiciliary account.

The CBN tweet said “Only transfers into domiciliary accounts can be transferred from such accounts while cash deposits into such accounts can only be withdrawn in cash.”

Meanwhile, the tweet was made in response to speculation that the apex regulator in Nigeria had banned the acceptance of foreign currency as cash deposits in Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

The CBN denied that it had given any such directive to the DMBs operating within the country and any information contrary to this is false.

The CBN tweet said “The CBN has not prohibited acceptance of foreign currency as cash deposits by DMBs. Rumors to the contrary are false”

If a bank customer made an electronic transfer of $5,000 into his domiciliary account and later goes to the bank to make a cash deposit of $10,000, making a total of $15,000 in the account. Such customer can only make withdrawals from the account in the manner/medium he used to make the deposits into the domiciliary account.

It means if the bank customer needs to make a payment of $12,000 or initiates a transaction of $12,000, he can only pay $5, 000 through electronic transfer and the reaming $7,000 would have to be paid in cash.

The new CBN directive comes as a surprise to Nigerians as shown in their responses to the tweets on Saturday. Now, Nigerians are left with making cash deposits into beneficiary’s account or instead of taking cash, the beneficiary request for a transfer to be made into such account given is future or current need for the money.