CBN To Sanction BDCs, Banks Rejecting Lower Dollar Bills

Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and authorised Bureau De Change (BDC) operators who reject old and lower denomination of the United States dollar bills will be sanctioned, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said yesterday.

A circular signed by its Director, Currency Operations Department, Ahmed Umar, directed DMBs, BDCs and the public to accept old series and lower denominations of US dollars that are legal tender.

“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 dollars bills by DMBs and other authorised forex dealers,” he said in a statement.

Continuing, he said: “All OMBs/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 from their customers.”

The CBN also cautioned forex dealers against defacing/stamping US dollar banknotes as such notes always fail authentication tests during processing/sorting.”