Banks restrict multiple account owners to N20,000 withdrawal

There is no end in sight yet to the low cash supply by commercial banks as customers face increasing difficulty with cash withdrawal, checks by Daily Trust have shown.

There are indications that commercial banks have also limited cash withdrawal on Automated Teller Machine (ATMs) to N20,000 for multiple account holders.

Daily Trust reports that the cash scarcity has worsened in recent times despite a warning by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to impose sanctions on commercial banks.

This is in spite of over N4.3 trillion currency in circulation, which has sustained an upward trajectory in the outgoing year.

The CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso had at the annual Bankers’ Dinner organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos recently assured that the bank would continue to “Maintain a robust cash offering to meet the country’s needs, particularly during high demand periods such as the festive season and year-end.”

Reports from across the country indicated that customers were still having difficulty with withdrawing cash from either the banks or ATMs.

It was learnt that customers with multiple accounts are only allowed to make ATM withdrawal of N20,000 on a daily basis.

A bank customer told our correspondent that he couldn’t make further withdrawal from his other account after withdrawing N20,000 from his first account.

“Because I needed more cash, I used another ATM card to make further withdrawals but I got a response that the daily withdrawal limit has been exceeded,” the customer said.

Daily Trust findings also showed that withdrawal limit varies depending on the availability of cash even as some ATMs pegged maximum withdrawal from other banks to N5,000.

Daily Trust gathered that the withdrawal limit at one of the branches of Guaranty Trust Bank, (GTB) was pegged at N5,000.  Further findings showed that a user with two ATM cards of different banks could withdraw N5,000 each.

For GTB customers, the withdrawal limit was pegged at N20,000 both at the ATM and over the counter.

One of the bank officials who was asked about the withdrawal limit said: “It depends on the availability of cash but now the limit is N20,000.”

At FCMB, our correspondent gathered that the withdrawal limit of other banks was pegged at N20,000 while the withdrawal limit for FCMB customers was pegged at N40,000.

Also, at Zenith Bank, it was gathered that the withdrawal limit was N20,000.

A point-of-sale (POS) agent, Mosuru Oluwasegun pleaded with bank authorities to ease the means of doing business for POS operators, saying the withdrawal limit of N5000 as an untold hardship.

“We are facing serious problems with scarcity of cash, it has not been easy as banks do not dispense enough money. They dispense only N5,000, which is not enough for us to do our business,” he added.

Cash supply is low, we are rationing – Bank sources

Sources at some DMBs told our correspondent that cash supply is slow across the bank branches while confirming the withdrawal limit by some banks.

“Cash supply is low so banks are managing for it to go round. POS people don’t even get cash from the banks. They source from fuel stations and markets but people will think it’s from banks,” one of the bank officials who spoke with our correspondent in confidence said.