CBN announces new limit on cash withdrawal ahead of redesigned Naira unveiling 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced new limits on over-the-counter cash withdrawals, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) withdrawals, and point of sale (PoS) withdrawals.

CBN director of banking supervision, Haruna Mustafa, in a statement on Tuesday,December 6th,directed that over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities should not exceed ₦100,000 and ₦500,000, respectively, per week.

The new policy would come into effect on January 9th,2023 and comes with stiff sanctions for defaulters. 

Mustafa said that withdrawal above these limits would attract processing fees to be paid by the defaulting party. The fees attracted would range  from 5 percent for individuals and 10 percent  for corporate entities respectively. 

He added that all third-party cheques above ₦50,000 would not be eligible for payment over the counter, while extant limits of ₦410,000,000 on clearing cheques still subsist.

Mustafa explained that the maximum cash withdrawal per week via ATM should be ₦100,000 subject to a maximum of ₦420,000 cash withdrawal per day adding that only denominations of ₦200 and below should be loaded into the ATM machine as at the time when the policy would become effective. 

According to the CBN director, the maximum cash withdrawal from PoS terminals should be ₦20,000 daily.

“In compelling circumstances, not exceeding once a month, where cash withdrawals above the prescribed limits are required for legitimate purposes. such cash withdrawals shall not exceed ₦5.000.000 00 and ₦10.000,000.00 for individuals and corporate organisations. respectively, and shall be subject to the referenced processing fees,” Mustafa said.

Mustafa ended by encouraging  customers to use other alternative channels like internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards/POS, eNaira, etc. to conduct their banking transactions and avoid holding excessive cash.