CBN directs Nigerian banks to open dollar accounts for remittances

Nigerian banks have been instructed to open dollar accounts for their customers immediately they receive deposit requests from International Money Transfer Operators.

WorldRemit- an International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made this known in a note to its clients on Wednesday.

“Following the new directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria, transfers with WorldRemit are now only available in US Dollars. Therefore, it is not possible to send a transfer in naira; this will come back as a failed transfer.,” the note reads.

“Before you send, check that the recipient has a US Dollar account with a supported bank. If you transfer funds to a recipient who doesn’t have a USD account, their bank may automatically create a USD account for them.”

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The operator said it was working with only few banks that automatically creates US Dollar accounts for their customers.

The apex bank had last month raised an alarm that its policy mandating IMTOs to pay diaspora remittances beneficiaries in dollars was being flouted.

As a result, it directed all mobile money operators to disable wallets from receipt of funds from IMTOs, following suspected abuse of policy guidelines by the IMTOs.

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