Thursday- 29th July, 2021: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed that Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) set up teller points in assigned branches for the direct sale of Foreign Exchange (forex) to Nigerians.
The directive was sequel to CBN’s decision to stop the sales of forex to Nigerians through Bureau de Change operators.
The directive was contained in a letter to the DMBs by Director, Bank Supervision Department of the apex bank, Haruna Mustafa, on Thursday in Abuja.
The letter read, “Further to the Monetary Policy Committee briefing of July 27, all DMBs are hereby reminded to set up teller points at designated branches across the country.
“This is to fulfill legitimate FX requests for Personal Travel Allowance, Business Travel Allowance, tuition fees, medical payments and SMEs transactions, among others.
“In this regard, DMBs are also required to adequately publicize the locations of the designated branches and make necessary arrangements to sell FX to customers in cash and/or electronically in compliance with extant regulations,” he said.
In addition, the director advised DMBs to ensure that no customer was turned back or refused forex provided that documentation and all other requirements were provided.
“Equally, undue delays, rationing and/or diversion of FX is strongly discouraged whilst DMBs are required to establish electronic application and alert systems to update customers on the status of their FX requests,” he added.
He further explained that a toll-free line has been set up at the CBN for bank customers to escalate unresolved complaints related to their forex requests.
According to Mustafa, the CBN will continue to monitor banks’ conduct and compliance with the directive closely in order to ensure an efficient forex market for all legitimate users.
