Fresh developments in the financial sector have shown that despite the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN’s move to ameliorate the cash crunch situation by suspending charges for cash withdrawals above regulatory limits, scarcity of currency notes in the banks nationwide has continued to hit harder, even after the Yuletide season.
Findings by Financial Vanguard revealed that banks across the country have continued to ration cash withdrawals in the banking halls and through their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) while Point of Sale Operators, PoS, operators, have taken advantage by hiking transaction fees by not less than 100%.
Recall that the CBN had recently suspended charges for cash withdrawals above the regulatory limits of N500,000 for individuals and N3 million for corporate account holders, nonetheless, banks still peg customers’ withdrawals far below the statutory limits.
The apex bank had said that the suspension of the charges will last till April 30 this year and threatened to sanction banks and PoS operators found to be complicit in the current Naira notes scarcity crisis.
The apex bank, in a statement, urged members of the public to report infractions, especially hoarding of Naira notes by banks and PoS operators, in their areas to the nearest branch of the apex bank or via the link: https://forms.office.com/r/frZJ0f2hFQ to address complaints and inquiries on the subject.
