Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has on Thursday, July 29 directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to set up teller points in designated branches for the sale of foreign exchange to meet legitimate forex requests of their customers.
The new development coming two days after the apex bank announced that it will discontinue the sale of dollars to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.
The directive is contained in a memo by the CBN to the deposit money banks and signed by Director, Bank Supervision Department of the apex bank, on Thursday, July 28, 2021, in Abuja.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday, July 27, took many by surprise as he announced the discontinuation of forex allocation to the BDCs accusing them of illegal practices and for facilitating money laundering in the country.
He then stated that banks are mandated to “immediately” and transparently sell forex to customers who present the required documents.
Revealing the approved means for foreign exchange sales, CBN in the memo directed banks to set up teller points and to publicize the locations of the designated branches and make necessary arrangements to sell forex to customers in cash and/or electronically.
The CBN’s letter partly reads;
Further to the Monetary Policy Committee briefing of July 27, all DMBs are hereby reminded to set up teller points at designated branches across the country to fulfil legitimate FX requests for Personal Travel Allowance, Business Travel Allowance, tuition fees, medical payments and SMEs transactions, among others.
In this regard, DMBs are also required to adequately publicise the locations of the designated branches and make necessary arrangements to sell FX to customers in cash and/or electronically in compliance with extant regulations.
It added;
DMBs are strongly advised to ensure that no customer is turned back or refused FX provided that documentation and all other requirements are satisfied. Equally, undue delays, rationing and/or diversion of FX is strongly discouraged whilst DMBs are required to establish electronic application and alert systems to update customers on status of their FX requests.’
The letter pointed out that a toll-free line has been set up at the CBN for bank customers to escalate unresolved complaints related to their FX requests.
Mustafa in the letter also said that the CBN would continue to closely monitor banks’ conduct and compliance with the directive in order to ensure an efficient FX market for all legitimate users.
Following the announcement of the discontinuation of forex sales to BDCs, CBN allocated a total of $200 million to all commercial banks in the country as part of efforts to meet the foreign exchange demand for legitimate end-users nationwide.
However, since the announcement the price of dollars has increased as naira traded at N522 to $1 on Wednesday afternoon, according Abokifx.com, a popular forex trading platform.
As at Thursday afternoon, checks by MDB on Abokifx shows that Naira is trading at N522 to $1 and financial analysts say say the current rates would continue to change over the course of the week.
