In consonance with the Central bank of Nigeria’s plans to mop up naira notes from the economy, commercial banks have announced changes in operation.
In a separate email to their customers and social media posts, the banks revealed that the decision is to help customers beat the deadline of January 31 set by the CBN.
The governor of the bank, Godwin Emefiele, said the plan to redesign Naira notes denominations of N200, N500 and N1000 would allow the bank to mop up N2.73 trillion out of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation that is outside the vaults of commercial banks.
Access bank Access bank, in a notification titled we are open on Saturday, said: “In order to beat the new Naira notes deadline of January 31, 2022, our branches will be open for longer hours during the week for your convenience, and they will also be open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. to receive cash deposits.”
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Ecobank Ecobank also has a similar message: “You can now deposit your old banknotes ahead of the January 31st, 2022 deadline. We will be open from 10am to 3pm”
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) also said it would begin operations on Saturdays for cash deposits. The financial institution said all its branches would be open on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm for cash deposits only.
The email reads: “Following the CBN announcement on the introduction of new naira notes, we are now open on Saturdays, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm for cash deposits only”
Other banks have also shared similar messages with their customers.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s CBN has another headache as the Naira lost a huge chunk of its value recovered at the black market last week.
On Tuesday, the naira depreciated to N800/$1, a further drop from Monday’s N780 per dollar performance, after recording its biggest comeback in recent times last week.