CBN Lifts Restrictions On Customers’ Domiciliary Accounts

The Central Bank of Nigeria has lifted restrictions on customers’ domiciliary accounts with commercial banks across Nigeria after the suspension and detention of the embattled CBN’s Governor Emefiele.

BrandNewsDay reports that commercial bank customers with domiciliary accounts now have unfettered access to the operation of such accounts, following the CBN’s decision to lift restrictions.

This online platform noted that the apex bank’s decision was taken at an extraordinary Bankers’ Committee meeting on Friday, and deposits and withdrawals from the foreign currency accounts are now unrestricted.

The CBN confirms that a domiciliary account holder can make a daily transfer not exceeding $10,000 or its equivalent.

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Moving on, the apex bank said banks are to provide returns to the CBN, including the “purpose” for such transactions.

The CBN, in a statement, through its Director of Corporate Communications, Dr Isa Abdulmumin, said, “Ordinary domiciliary account holders shall have unfettered and unrestricted access to funds in their accounts. Domiciliary account holders are permitted to utilise cash deposits not exceeding USD$ 10,000 per day or its equivalent via telegraphic transfer”.

The statement explained that: “These policy changes aim to promote transparency, liquidity and price discovery in the Foreign Exchange (FX) market in order to improve FX supply, discourage speculation, enhance customer confidence and ensure overall stability in the FX market.”

Other changes introduced in the Forex market by the CBN are that “cash deposits into domiciliary accounts will not be restricted, subject to banks’ conducting proper KYC, due diligence and adhering to the spirit and letter of extant AML/CFT laws and other relevant rules and regulations”.

The CBN has also decided that it “will prioritise orderly settlement of any committed FX forward transactions as they fall due in order to boost market confidence further.”