CBN to sanction banks, BDCs for rejecting old, smaller dollars notes

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has threatened to sanction banks and Bureau de Change (BDC) operators that reject old and lower US dollars notes.

In a circular signed by Mr Ahmed Umar, CBN’s director of the Foreign Exchange Operations Department, the apex bank said it has been inundated with complaints about the rejection of US dollar deposits of old or lower values ​​in banks.

He said the CBN would sanction one of the relevant stakeholders, who refused to accept such denominations of their customers’ currencies.

“The CBN had lately been inundated with complaints from members of the public regarding the rejection of old/lower denominations of US dollar notes by DMBs and other authorized forex brokers.

“All DMBs and authorized forex traders should now accept both old series and lower denominations of USD which are legal tender for deposit by their clients.

“The CBN will not hesitate to sanction any DMB or any other authorized forex dealer who refuses to accept old series or lower denominations of USD invoices from their clients,” he warned.

The regulator also warned currency traders to give up the habit of degrading or stamping dollar banknotes as those banknotes always failed authentication tests during sorting.