On Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced fresh cash withdrawal limits on individuals and organisations.

The policy will become effective on January 9, 2023, Punch reports.

The memo showed individuals will be limited to N100,000 per week in withdrawals (through over-the-counter, point-of-sale, or automated teller machines), while businesses will be limited to N500,000 per week.

It also directed banks to load only N200 and lower denominations into their ATMs. Nigerians can only withdraw N20,000 daily from ATMs when the directive becomes effective.

Part of the memo reads:

“The maximum cash withdrawal over the counter by individuals and corporate organisations per week shall henceforth be N100,000 and N500,000 respectively. Withdrawals above these limits shall attract processing fees of 5 per and 10 per, respectively.

“Third-party cheques above N50,000 shall not be eligible for payment over the counter, while extant limits of N10,000,000 on clearing cheques still subsist.

“The maximum cash withdrawal per week via Automated Teller Machine shall be N100,000 subject to a maximum of N20,000 cash withdrawal per day. Only denominations of N200 and below shall be loaded into the ATMs. The maximum cash withdrawal via the point of sale terminal shall be N20,000 daily.”

Bank electronic charges

The CBN believes the decision will finally help drive the cashless policy initiative, which it kicked off in January 2012 in Lagos.

While some Nigerians have praised the move, others have expressed worries, especially about multiple electronic charges.

Cash is king but it's expensive and unsafe

Time to move to non cash

Get with the program

— Kalu Aja (@FinPlanKaluAja1) December 6, 2022

List of the approved electronic bank charges in Nigeria

CBN, in January 2020, released guidelines for electronic charges unless it decides to make changes to reflect the new cash withdrawal policy, here are some of the bank charges.

Electronic funds transfer

The rate for electronic transfer transactions is N50 for transactions done above N50,000, N25 for N5, 000 – N50,000 and N10 charge for below N5,000.

Automatic Teller Machines (ATM)

The charge on ATM withdrawals from other banks’ ATMs was reduced to N35 from N65 for the third withdrawal within the same month.

Card maintenance fee for Naira debit/credit cards

Naira debit or credit cards linked to savings accounts attract a maximum of N50 quarterly maintenance fee, while foreign currency-denominated debit/credit cards attract $10 from $20.

The charge for the hardware token is subject to cost recovery, subject to a maximum charge of N2,500. It was reduced from N3,500.

Naira debit /card charges

The issuance fee for these cards is N1, 000 (one-off charge) irrespective of the card type, either regular or premium card. The same charge applies for a replacement or renewal.

Intra-Scheme money transfer

Sending to an account holder attracts a minimum of N50 subject to one per cent of transaction value or N300, whichever is lower. While for a non-account holder, it attracts a minimum of N50 subject to 1.5 per cent of transaction value or N500, whichever is lower.

Others are:

Status Enquiry at the Request of Customer (e.g. Confirmation Letter, Embassy Letter, Reference Letter, Letter of Indebtedness/Non-Indebtedness etc.) attracts a rate of N500 per request.

The fee for Short Message Service (SMS) mandatory alert is N4.

Bill payment via e-channels will attract a maximum charge of N500 from 0.75 per cent of the transaction value subject to a maximum of N1, 200.

Special Request for Statement of a Bill of account is N200.

USSD transactions are also subject to N6.98 bank charge.