The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday excluded primary mortgage banks (PMBs) and microfinance banks (MFBs) from its cash withdrawal limit policy introduced over six months ago as part of its efforts to manage the liquidity in the economy.
The apex bank, in a circular signed by its Director, Payment System Management, Musa Jimoh, and addressed to all financial institutions in the country, directed the exclusion of the PMBs and MFBs from paying processing fees during cash withdrawals.
The statement reads: “The Central Bank of Nigeria hereby directs the exemption of microfinance banks and primary mortgage banks that provide banking services to the economically active poor from paying the processing fee for withdrawals above the cash withdrawal limit for direct cash withdrawals from their correspondent banks.
“This is to enable them to continue to play their expected role in the economy and provide specialized banking services to their customers”, it added.
The CBN, however, advised the PMBs and the MFBs to adhere to the cash withdrawal limits stated in its earlier circular BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/015/073 dated 21/12/2022.
It would be recalled that the apex bank had in December 2022 in its move to redesign the Naira announced cash withdrawal limits for banks and other financial institutions (OFIs), which became effective from January 9, 2023.
According to the policy directive, the maximum weekly withdrawal limits for individuals and corporate organisations were set at N500,000 and N5,000,000 respectively.
The policy directive further required that where the circumstance warrants a withdrawal, a processing fee of 3% and 5% will be charged for individual and corporate organizations respectively.
It also mandated banks and other financial institutions to ensure customers provide their Tax Identification Number, means of identification and a written note of approval from the MD/CEO of the financial institution authorizing the withdrawal.
The CBN maintained that the policy was to encourage individuals to key into its cashless policy initiative by encouraging the use of alternative transaction channels such as eNaira, mobile banking apps, USSD, internet banking, cards/POS, etc.
