Confusion as CBN stops withdrawal of new notes, ATMs reject new notes
Twin confusion is currently hitting the smooth transition from old to new Naira notes in the country, Business Hilights Intelligent Unit (BHIU) can authoritatively report.
These are one; The observed short-supply of new notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which has worsened the situation by ordering Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) not to pay customers making over-the-counter withdrawals of new naira notes again and, Two; majority of ATMs only accept to dispense one particular kind of new notes while it rejects two.
Already, in a latest circular to DMBs, the apex bank directed the banks to load their Automated Teller Machines with only new notes to ensure that the currency circulates across the nation ahead of the January 31, 2023 deadline when the old notes will no longer be legal tender.
The memo, which was titled; ‘Urgent update on currency redesign’ and signed by the Group Head, Retail Operation, stated, “The CBN has mandated that we immediately stop the Over-the-Counter payment of the new N200, N500 & N,1000 currency. Instead, all new notes should be loaded into the ATMs for customer withdrawals.
“This is effective immediately please.”
However, investigations show that due to fact that the new notes were in short supply, banks have decided to load a mixture of the old and new N1,000 and N500 notes in the ATMs for customers to withdraw.
A bank manager confided in our correspondent that “Loading of ATMs is the responsibility of the banks. When our bank tested the ATMs, only one denomination of the new notes passed the test of dispensing seamlessly through our machines. The bank is working on reconfiguring the ATMs to be able to dispense the new notes. What we have done in my branch is to mix the few new N1,000 and N500 notes available with old ones so that desperate customers can make withdrawals and meet their immediate needs.
“If you observed, a lot of ATMs were inactive during the Christmas and New Year holidays. The idea was not to give out old notes, but unfortunately, the new ones are not in circulation. The banks have a mandate to evacuate N1bn old notes each to the CBN on a daily basis and our head office has set a strict vault limit or cash holding limit for each branch, which on no condition we must exceed.”
Efforts to get the views of the apex bank on the confusing situation failed yesterday evening before filing this report.
