As cash scarcity bites, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued new guidelines for point of sale (POS), operators limiting their daily transaction to N100,000 per customer for cash-out transactions.
The new directive is coming as scarcity of cash has persisted in banks while PoS operators are having a field day making brisk business as they charge exorbitant fees for their services.
The CBN said the policy, signed by Oladimeji Yisa Taiwo for the Director of the Payments System Management Department at the CBN, is to streamline agency banking operations, encourage electronic payment adoption, and enhance the country’s cashless economy drive.
The circular, which was released on Tuesday and addressed to Deposit Money Banks, Microfinance Banks, Mobile Money Operators, and Superagents, emphasizes the need for uniform operational standards, fraud prevention, and improved monitoring within the agent banking sector.
The circular outlined several critical measures for principals of agent banking operations to implement immediately including, N100,000 daily withdrawal limit for individual customers, each agent’s total cash-out transactions must not exceed N1,200,000 daily, while customers are restricted to a maximum cash withdrawal of N500,000 per week.
The new policy also demands that agents clearly demarcate their banking services from other merchant activities and use the approved Agent Code 6010 for all transactions, agency banking activities must be conducted through float accounts maintained with the principal institutions.
It also insists on mandatory monitoring of agents’ accounts, while agents are required to connect their terminals to the Payments Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) and send daily transaction reports to the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) electronically.
The CBN said it will conduct periodic oversight, including backend configuration checks to ensure compliance.
It noted that violations of these directives will attract severe penalties, including monetary fines and administrative sanctions.
Cash scarcity remains a persistent issue across Nigeria, even as the latest data from the CBN shows that currency in circulation hit a record high of N4.5 trillion in October 2024. According to the data, currency in circulation increased by 4.7 per cent from N4.3 trillion recorded in September 2024.
Despite this increase, Nigerians continue to face challenges accessing cash as banks ration withdrawals and automated teller machines (ATMs) are left empty.
Many customers have reported being unable to withdraw their desired amounts, with some accusing banks of arbitrarily limiting cash disbursements.