Amidst public outcry, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the weekly cash withdrawal limit for individuals and corporate entities to N500,000 and N5 million respectively which was previously set by the apex bank at N100,000 for individuals and N500,000 for corporate organizations. This was contained in a circular released by the CBN on Wednesday and signed by the Director of Banking Supervision Department, Haruna Mustafa which stated that the review was due to feedback from stakeholders.
The circular reads, “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hereby makes the following reviews: (1) the maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawal across all channels by individuals and corporate organizations shall be N500,000 and N5,000,000 respectively.
“(2) In compelling circumstances where cash withdrawal above the limits in (1) is required for legitimate purposes, such request shall be subject to a processing fee of 3 percent and 5 percent for individuals and corporate organizations, respectively.
“Further to (2) above, the financial institution shall obtain the following information from the customer, at the minimum, and upload same on the CBN portal created for the purpose: valid means of identification of the payee (national ID, international passport or driver’s license, Bank Verification Number (BVN) of the payee, Tax Identification Number (TIN) of both the payee and the payer and an approval in writing by the MD/CEO of the financial institution authorizing the withdrawal.
“Third-party cheques above N100,000 shall not be eligible for payment over-the-counter while the extant limit of N10 million on clearing cheques still subsist.
“Compliance with extant AML/CFT regulations relating to KYC, ongoing customer due diligence and suspicious transaction reporting, etc. is required in all circumstances.
“Customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards, POS, eNaira, etc.) to conduct their banking transactions.
“All banks and OFIs are to note that aiding and abetting the circumvention of this policy will attract severe sanctions.”
The apex bank also stated that this new policy would take effect from January 9, 2023.
