THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it would sanction deposit money banks (DMBs) and authorised forex dealers rejecting old and lower denominations of the United States Dollar (USD) bills from customers.
The apex bank gave the warning in a circular on Monday, July 1, signed by its acting director of Currency Operations Department, Solaja Olayemi, emphasising the mandatory acceptance of old and lower denominations of dollar notes.
According to CBN, the directive comes in response to findings from consumer market intelligence, which revealed a continued pattern of selective rejection of these bills by financial institutions and forex dealers.
In the circular dated June 27, the apex bank reiterated the necessity for strict adherence to its earlier directive and referred to it early directive.
The ICIR reports that CBN had on April 9, 2021, explicitly prohibited the selective acceptance of deposits and required all relevant parties to comply fully.
“The outcome of the consumer market intelligence conducted by the Bank revealed the continued rejection of old/lower denominations of United States (US) Dollar bills by Deposit Money Banks (DMBS) and other authorised forex dealers.
“Kindly be reminded that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) circular referenced COD/DIR/INT/CIR/001/002 and dated 9th April 2021 which explicitly frowned at this selective acceptance of deposit is still in force and must be adhered to and complied with by all relevant parties,” CBN stated.
It said that based on the earlier directive, all DMBs and authorised forex dealers were henceforth required to accept both old series and lower denominations of USD bills that are recognised as legal tender.
The CBN directive is to ensure customers deposit the dollar bills without facing unnecessary rejection.
It is also intended to enforce compliance and ensure uniformity in handling foreign currency deposits.
It further advised the DMBs and authorised forex dealers to cease the practice of defacing or stamping on the USD banknotes as such actions often result in the notes failing authentication tests during processing and sorting, causing further complications.
The apex bank urged the DMBs and authorised forex dealers to comply with its directive.