The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and authorised forex dealers, against rejecting old and lower denominations of the United States’ Dollars from their customers.
According to the CBN, the directive became necessary following barrage of complaints from customers after it conducted consumer market intelligence.
In a circular dated June 27, 2024 but was released on Monday, CBN’s Acting Director, Currency Operations Department, Solaja Olayemi, said the apex bank condemned “this selective acceptance of deposit” and urged all relevant parties to comply with the directive immediately.
Specifically, the CBN said all banks and authorised forex dealers “should henceforth accept both old series and lower denominations of United States Dollars (USD) that are legal tender for deposit from their customers.”
The CBN had in 2021, directed forex dealers and deposit money banks to stop refusing old dollar bills and denominations but to accept them as legal tender.
It also warned authorised dealers from stamping or defacing dollar bills as it would fail the authentication tests during processing and sorting.