CBN shrinks daily withdrawal limit to N20,000

By Rosemary Iwuala

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)  has imposed fresh cash withdrawal limits on individuals and organisations, including a N20,000 daily withdrawal limit on individual accounts and N50,000 limit on over the counter third party cheques, set to become effective on January 9, 2023.

According to a memo issued by the apex bank, individuals will only be able to withdraw N100,000 per week (from over-the-counter, point-of-sale machines or automated teller machines), while organisations can access N500,000 per week.

The memo signed by Haruna Mustafa, the CBN’s director of banking supervision, directed banks to load only N200 and lower denominations into their ATMs. This means Nigerians will only be able to withdraw N20,000 per day from ATMs when the directive becomes effective.

The memo read; “The maximum cash withdrawal over the counter by individuals and corporate organisations per week shall henceforth be N100,000 and N500,000 respectively. Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of 5 per and 10 per, respectively.

“Third-party cheques above N50,000 shall not be eligible for payment over the counter, while extant limits of N10,000,000 on clearing cheques still subsist.

“The maximum cash withdrawal per week via Automated Teller Machine shall be N100,000 subject to a maximum of N20,000 cash withdrawal per day. Only denominations of N200 and below shall be loaded into the ATMs. The maximum cash withdrawal via the point of sale terminal shall be N20,000 daily.”

However, there is an exemption that allows up to N5 million for individuals and N10 million for corporate organisations once a month with certain requirements.

“In compelling circumstances, not exceeding once a month, where cash withdrawals above the prescribed limits is required for legitimate purposes, such cash withdrawals shall not exceed N5,000,000.00 and N10,000,000.00 for individuals and corporate organizations, respectively, and shall be subject to the referenced processing fees in (1) above, in addition to enhanced due diligence and further information requirements,” the memo read.

To be eligible for the special withdrawals above the stipulated limit, the CBN said individuals and corporate organisations will have to upload on a CBN portal created for the purpose valid means of identification of the payee such as National ID, international passport, driver’s license, and Bank Verification Number (BVN) of the payee.

Also, to be made available to the CBN will be the notarised customer declaration of the purpose for the cash withdrawal, senior management approval for the withdrawal by the Managing Director of the drawee, where applicable and approval in writing by the MD/CEO of the bank authorising the withdrawal.

The CBN further gave a stern warning to banks, stating that aiding and abetting the circumvention of the policy will attract severe sanctions.