Nigerians struggling to withdraw dollars and pounds from their own domiciliary accounts may soon receive regulatory intervention. Amid complaints that some banks impose withdrawal ceilings, claim currency shortages or offer inconvenient denominations, the Central Bank is reportedly preparing measures requiring banks to honour legitimate foreign-currency withdrawal requests.
The Central Bank of Nigeria is reportedly investigating complaints that some commercial banks are restricting customers’ access to funds held in domiciliary accounts.
Financial Vanguard reported on September 28 that customers across different banks have complained of difficulties withdrawing foreign currency even where requests comply with applicable account requirements.
Some banks reportedly impose transaction limits, while others tell customers that dollars or pounds are unavailable.
In some cases, customers have allegedly been offered only lower-denomination notes, effectively discouraging them from proceeding with large cash withdrawals.
Vanguard reported that a source close to the CBN said the apex bank had received several complaints and was considering measures to address practices that unnecessarily delay or restrict legitimate withdrawals.
The regulator is reportedly considering a circular directing banks to review such practices and ensure that valid withdrawal requests are properly honoured.
The development is significant because money held in a domiciliary account remains the customer’s funds, subject to legitimate banking, anti-money-laundering and regulatory requirements.
The legal and regulatory issue therefore concerns the circumstances in which a financial institution may legitimately restrict immediate access to foreign-currency deposits.
Reports indicate that customer experiences differ considerably from bank to bank.
At some institutions, customers reportedly received only a portion of the foreign currency they requested, while others were told no foreign currency was available.
One customer reportedly received $1,000 at a branch where another customer had been told that dollars were unavailable.
The reported regulatory intervention may therefore require banks to distinguish genuine temporary liquidity constraints from internal practices that unnecessarily obstruct customer withdrawals.
As of the report reviewed by LegalLinkz, the anticipated circular had not yet been publicly issued.
That distinction is important: the investigation and proposed regulatory measures should not be treated as a final finding that individual banks have violated CBN rules.
The development is nevertheless worth monitoring because any formal CBN directive could materially affect domiciliary account holders and commercial banks.
READ MORE ON LEGALLINKZ:
Court Orders CBN, EFCC to Investigate AFEX Accounts Over ₦17.8bn Debt
SOURCE:
Vanguard — CBN Probes Banks’ Restrictions on Forex Accounts
