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As part of efforts to facilitate the circulation of its new naira notes, the Central Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched a cash swap programme across local government areas in Nigeria.
The apex bank said the new cash swap programme takes effect from Monday, January 23, 2022. The bank said the old N1000, N500, N200 notes can be exchanged for the newly redesigned notes and the existing lower denominations (N100, N50 and N20, etc) which remain legal tender.
The apex bank made this known on Friday in a circular addressed to all DMBs, mobile money operators (MMOs), super agents and agents.
The apex bank said that the cash swap programme is in partnership with super agents and deposit money banks (DMBs) at different parts of the country. Super agents refer to companies licensed by the CBN to recruit for the purpose of agency banking.
In recent times, the CBN launched sensitization campaigns in markets across Nigeria to educate citizens on the new notes. Earlier in the week, it also vowed to sanction any commercial bank found hoarding the new notes.
The old notes are expected to be out of circulation by the end of January.
“The agent shall exchange a maximum of N10,000 per person. Amounts above N10,000 may be treated as cash-in deposit into wallets or bank accounts in line with the cashless policy. BVN, NIN, or Voter’s card details of the customers should be captured as much as possible.
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“To promote financial inclusion, this service is also available to anybody without a bank account .Agents may, on request, instantly open a wallet or account, leveraging the CBN Tiered KYC Framework. This will ensure that this category of the populace are able to exchange or deposit their cash seamlessly without taking unnecessary risk or incurring undue cost,” the bank said.
The bank also said that agents will sensitise customers on opening wallets, bank accounts and the various channels for conducting electronic transactions.
“Designated agents are eligible to collect the redesigned notes from DMBs in line with the revised cash withdrawal limit policy,” the bank said.
“Agents are also permitted to charge cash-out fees for the cash swap transactions but prohibited from charging any further commissions to customers for this service.”
The bank said these agents will render weekly returns to their designated banks regarding the cash swap transactions while the banks shall in turn render the same to the CBN on a weekly basis.
“Principals (super agents, MMOs, DMBs) shall be held accountable for their agents adherence to the above guidelines,” the circular reads.
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