CBN’s N1.35bn Fines Against Banks Fail To Curb Naira Scarcity

The Yemi Cardoso-led Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has hammered nine commercial banks in the country for failing to dispense naira notes through their Automated Teller Machines, ATMs.

The sanctioned banks include the United Bank for Africa, UBA, Fidelity Bank, Zenith Bank, Keystone Bank, Globus Bank, Union Bank, Sterling Bank, First Bank  and Providus Bank.

Instructively, few hours after the banks were sanctioned many customers who visited the banks’ ATMs on Wednesday said the problems have yet to be ameliorated, as most of the cash dispensing machines are still very empty.

“I had to resort to the POS people to collect some cash, to enable me pay for transport to where I was going after I realised that my bank did not load their ATMs with cash. Initially, I wanted to go to the bank hall to see if I can get some, but the hall had already been filled to the brims,” Gbenga, a bank customer in Oshodi said.

Another customer, Musa told the magazine that “efforts to withdraw cash at his bank’s ATM in Mile 2 proved abortive because “by the time I got there in the morning the security told me ‘other customers have withdrew all the cash’.

He said the cash problems that started before the yuletide has persisted in the new year wondering whether he has ‘to write applications to get what rightly belongs to’ him.

For Ogechi, a business woman in Abule Egba, a suburb of Lagos, the story was slightly different as her bank ATM only made it possible for “you to withdraw N5,000 and N10,000” maximum. She appealed to the authority to make enough cash available because there are some ‘people who will not accept transfer from you’ after transacting business with them.

CBN said, “Ensuring seamless cash flow is paramount to maintaining public trust and economic stability,” warning that it will continue to sanction commercial banks which failed to ensure that cash are readily made available to customers through ATMs.

For the infractions, the apex bank said the banks have been fined N150 million each, according to a statement issued on Tuesday by the CBN spokesperson, Hakama Ali.

The apex bank warned of serious sanction if the infractions persist, urging commercial banks to make cash available on demand at the ATM and other distribution channels.

“The CBN will not hesitate to impose further sanctions on any institution found violating its cash circulation guidelines,” Hakama said.

Meanwhile, two sources in the commercial banks said today that they are trying to deal with the problem. “But we cannot manufacture cash on our own. We can only dispense what we get from the CBN” one of the sources said.