In furtherance of its Naira Redesign policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has launched with effect from Monday, January 23, a cash swap programme in partnership with Super Agents & Deposit Money Banks.
The programme enables citizens in rural areas or those with limited access to formal financial services to exchange old Naira notes for redesigned notes.
Highlights of the initiative include:
- The old N1000, N500, N200 notes can be exchanged for the newly redesigned notes and/or the existing lower denominations (N100, N50 and N20), which remain legal tender.
- The agent shall exchange a minimum of N10,000 per person, with amounts above N10,000 treated as cash-in deposit into wallets or bank accounts.
- To promote financial inclusion, the service is available to anybody without a bank account, with Agents leveraging the CBN Tiered Know Your Customer (KYC) Framework.
- Agents shall sensitize customers on opening wallets/bank accounts and the various channels for conducting electronic transactions.
- Designated agents are eligible to collect the redesigned notes from DMBs in line with the Cash Withdrawal Limits. Agents are also permitted to charge cash-out fees for the cash swap transactions but prohibited from charging any further commissions.
- Agents shall render weekly returns to their banks regarding cash swap transactions, while DMBs render same to the CBN weekly.
- Cash Swap agents will be readily identifiable in all local governments particularly in the rural areas.
The CBN says it will continue to monitor the implementation of the programme and provide further guidance as may be necessary.