Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) announced to its customers in a statement on Thursday about its plan to suspend international Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and Point of Sales (PoS) transactions on its Naira MasterCard with effect from Saturday, December 31, 2022.
According to the statement, “We write to inform you that you will no longer be able to use your Naira MasterCard for international online and PoS transactions effective from 31 December 2022.
“Kindly note, that you can use your GTBank dollar card for all your international spending requirements.”
The statement further noted that its dollar card allows a daily withdrawal limit of $1,000 (or its local currency equivalent) on ATM transactions, adding that there is no withdrawal limit on “annual spend and PoS transactions” for the dollar cards.
GTBank is not the first Nigerian financial institution to suspend international transactions on its Naira debit cards.
In July of this year, Standard Chartered Bank announced the suspension of international transactions on its Naira debit bank while FirstBank announced the same in September.
Experts suggest that Nigeria’s operation of a multiple Foreign exchange (Forex) rate system and a shortage of Forex has put the country in a Forex crisis affecting citizens’ ability to pay for services online and abroad.
