The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to, henceforth, accept from their customers, old and lower denomination of US dollars as legal tender or face sanctions.
This follows numerous complaints from members of the public on the rejection of old/lower denominations of the dollar by these banks and other authorised forex dealers.
The CBN directive is contained in a circular signed by its Director for Currency Operations Department, Mr Ahmed Umar.
Umar, in his statement, said that the apex bank had been faced with complaints of the rejection of old/lower denomination US dollar deposits in the banks, adding that the CBN would sanction any of the banks or forex dealers, who failed to accept such denominations from their customers.
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What the CBN’s Director of Currency Operations is saying
Ahmed said, “The CBN has, in recent times, been inundated with complaints from members of the public on the rejection of old/lower denominations of the US dollar bills by DMBs and other authorised forex dealers. All DMBs and authorised forex dealers should, henceforth, accept both old series and lower denominations of USD that are legal tender for deposit by their customers.
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“The CBN will not hesitate to sanction any DMB or other authorised forex dealers who refused to accept old series or lower denominations of the USD bills from their customers,” he warned.
He also cautioned forex dealers to desist from the habit of defacing or stamping dollar banknotes as such notes always failed authentication tests during sorting.
this is a great concerned for us expescailly we that has small capital is a treat to our economy even in benue state is the worst
How will such sanctions work? BDC operators always complain that banks reject dollar printed in 2009. A portal or an email or something should be created so one can directly report any bank or branch that rejects such bills.
The problem isnt the BDC dealers but Banks…they are the cause of these hitches people go through when transacting in US dollar,thereby creating loopholes that benefit the BDC dealers in the country.