The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered Deposit Money Banks (DNBs) and Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to, henceforth, accept old series and smaller denominations of the United States Dollar (USD).
The apex bank gave the order in a circular signed by its Director of Currency Operations Department, Ahmed Umar.
According to the circular, the CBN had been inundated with complains of the rejection of old or lower denomination U.S dollar deposits in the banks.
It said that the CBN would sanction any of the concerned stakeholders, who refused to accept such denominations of the currency from their customers.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has in recent times been inundated with complaints from members of the public on the rejection of old/lower denominations of US dollar bills by Deposit money banks (DMBs) and other authorised forex dealers,” the circular reads.
“All DMBs/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 will not hesitate to sanction any DMB or other authorised forex dealers who refuse to accept old series/lower denominations of US dollar bills from their customers.”
The CBN also advised authorised forex dealers to refrain from stamping USD banknotes.
“In addition, all authorised forex dealers are advised to desist from defacing/stamping US Dollar banknotes as such notes always fail authentication test during processing/sorting.”
