The Central Bank of Nigeria has said as part of its plans to phase out the old naira notes, it will commence currency swap in the rural areas on Monday (today).
The CBN disclosed this in a circular to all Deposit Money Banks, Mobile Money Operators, super agents and agents, titled ‘Naira redesign policy: CBN launches cash swap programme in rural/undeserved areas’.
The circular was signed by the Director, Banking Supervision Department, Haruna Mustafa, and Director, Payment System Management Department, Musa Jimoh.
It stated, “In furtherance of its naira redesigned policy, the CBN has sustained its nationwide awareness/ sensitisation programmes, enforced speedy collection of the new notes at the CBN branches by the DMBs and mandated issuance of the new naira notes through Automated Teller Machines to ensure distribution is fair, transparent and evenly spread across the country.
“In addition to these measures and in recognition of the need to maximise the channels through which undeserved and rural communities can exchange their naira, the Bank is launching a cash swap programme in partnership with super agents and DMBs. The programme enables citizens in rural areas or those with limited access to formal financial services to exchange old naira notes for redesigned notes.”
To promote financial inclusion, the circular stated that the service would be available to anybody without a bank account.
The circular said, “The old N1,000, N500, N200 notes can be exchanged for the newly redesigned notes and/or the existing lower denominations (N100, N50 and N20, e.t.c), which remain legal tender.
“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.”
It stated that designated agents were eligible to collecte the redesigned notes from the DMBs in line with the revised cash withdrawal limit policy.
Agents were also permitted to charge cash-out fees for the cash swap transactions but prohibited from charging any further commissions to customers for this service.
