CBN orders banks to deposit all excess FX

The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed all Deposit Money Banks to deposit their excess foreign currency notes with its branches in Lagos and Abuja.

The apex bank disclosed this in a fresh circular on Friday signed by Solaja Mohammed Olayemi, its acting Director of the Currency Operations Department.

CBN said this is to boost FX liquidity and attain convergence in the exchange rates of the parallel and official markets.

CBN said guidelines become necessary in response to increased demand by DMBs to deposit their forex cash with CBN for credit to their respective offshore accounts.

“The approval is a response to the increasing demand by DMBs to deposit their forex cash with CBN for onward credit to their offshore accounts with the correspondent banks.

“Consequently, all DMBs are hereby directed to adhere strictly to the following guidelines: Give at least three (3) working days’ notice of their intent to deposit forex cash, in writing to the Branch Controller, CBN Lagos or Abuja. This must be accompanied by the list of owners of foreign currency to be deposited.

“All deposits must be within the threshold of the following per day: USD higher bills (USD100 and USD50) maximum limit of USD10 million, USD lower bills (USD20 and below) maximum limit of USD1 million, GBP notes maximum limit of GBP1 million, EURO notes maximum limit of EUR1 million. Two (2) representatives of the depositing bank must be present to witness and confirm the amount to be deposited.

“Deposits may be in USD100, USD50, USD20, USD10, USD5, USD1 and all GBP and EURO denominations. Each denomination shall be in separate boxes.

“The DMBs shall engage the services of only CBN-registered CIT companies for deposits of foreign currency notes.

“The time for accepting deposits shall be between 8 am and 12 pm.

“Abuja and Lagos branches would receive, count, and authenticate such deposits in the presence of the representatives of the depositing bank on the same day.

“The Bank shall credit the DMBs’ account through their offshore correspondent bank within the cycle time of T+5.

“The handling charge of 0.30 percent of the authenticated amount shall be recovered from the DMB current account with CBN.

“The Bank would not accept forex deposits from any DMB that fails to comply with any of the guidelines. Please note that these guidelines are effective immediately.

“This circular supersedes the circular Ref. No. COD/DIR/GEN/CMI/11/094 of 17th July 2017,” CBN stated.

Recall that the Naira traded at N1505.30 and N1515 against the Dollar at the official and parallel foreign exchange markets on Friday.