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CBN holds back N10.1trn deposits as frustrated customers can’t get cash from banks

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Amid a surge in demand for more cash by bank customers, Nigerian banks are finding it difficult to meet demands.

Ripples Nigeria observed many Bank customers at Okota, Ikeja and Ikotun areas of Lagos State moving from one Automated Teller Machine to another looking for where to withdraw.

Point of Sale (POS) operators on their part increased their N100 withdrawal charges for N5,000 cash to N200.

One of the operators, Ayomide Lawal told Ripples Nigeria at Ago Palace that the upward review of her charges was due to the difficulties getting cash.

On social media also there were various reports from customers claiming they could make withdrawals on their account,

A middle-aged woman took to social media to explain how while she tried to use the USSD code of her bank to transfer N100,000 to a customer with a UBA account on December 18, 2021 the transaction was unsuccessful.

She revealed that after she initiated the transaction she received a message, “your account is restricted please dial *737*20*BVN# or visit any GTBank branch to link your BVN to your account.”

Read also: CBN, EFCC, others to shutdown money lenders harassing Nigerians

The woman who was sure that her account had been linked to her BVN, however, followed the instruction, only to receive another response, which read, “Your account is already linked to your account. Dial *568*0# to confirm your BVN.”

Some banks’ ATM machines visited randomly from Friday December 31, 2021 to Monday, 3 January 2022 during the festive period are First Bank of Nigeria, GTBank, UBA, FCMB, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Polaris Bank, among others.

CBN Increases CRR debit

Bank customers’ difficulties came as the Central Bank of Nigeria in the first 11 months of 2021 kept N10.1trillion in Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR).

This is according to CBN money and credit statistics.

CRR is the amount the CBN debits from banks’ accounts in compliance with its monetary policy objective of mandatorily keeping cash on behalf of banks and cannot be accessed.

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