The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revised its cash policy in Nigeria. The new policy will take effect from January 2026. All commercial and microfinance banks that accept and process cash transactions are required to apply this policy.
This is part of the CBN plan to achieve its cashless policy. It will also help reduce money laundering in the country. The new policy indicates that, starting from January 2026, the withdrawal limits will be reduced to N500,000 and N5,000,000 per week for individuals and companies, respectively. We have curated six points on the new policy.
Six facts about the new Cash Policy
1. Deposit limit and fees: The policy contained in the circular FPRD/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/011 states that the deposit limit for cash has been removed. Also, fees charged by Banks on the excess of the limit have been removed.
2. Weekly withdrawal limit: While the CBN has removed limits on deposits, it tightened the limit on withdrawals. So more cash can enter the bank, but less can be withdrawn from it. Thereby achieving a fraction of its cashless policy plan. The withdrawal limit is now N500,000 for individual bank customers and N5,000,000 for corporations.
If an individual or body corporate intends to withdraw more than the weekly limit above, a fee of 3% and 5% is attracted respectively. Note that 40 per cent of these fees is attributed to the apex bank.
3. Special authorised withdrawal: In the previous related circular, individuals and bodies corporate can make a special request in writing to withdraw in excess of the weekly withdrawal limit.
The implication is that special withdrawal requests above the revised withdrawal limit cannot be made via commercial banks. Therefore, other payment channels can be utilised such as electronic bank transfer.
4. Use of ATM for withdrawal: The policy applies to withdrawal via ATM and POS. A daily withdrawal limit of N100,000 with a maximum of N500,000 weekly is allowed through ATMs and POSs.
5. Third-party Cheque withdrawal: The new withdrawal limit also applies to third-party cheque withdrawals. Therefore, only N100,000 daily can be encashed by Cheque.
6. Exemption from the policy: Microfinance banks that use commercial banks as their core banker for deposits and withdrawals are exempted from this cash policy. This will enable them to have enough cash to meet their customers' withdrawal demands.
Also, revenue-generating accounts of the federal, state, and local governments are also exempted
What should bank internal control officers do?
The revised cash-related policy will take effect from January 2026. The head of the internal control staff should inform their team of the changes. The audit plan for 2026 must include a plan to monitor compliance with the cash policy.
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The bank’s operations department should be notified in an official letter from the internal control team. Daily call over of teller accounts by an internal control officer must reflect the current policy.
Commercial banks’ ERP software can be adjusted to allow customers to access the revised cash withdrawal limits. So that excess withdrawals via the bank’s counter can be avoided.
In summary, the revised cash-related policy will achieve CBN’s cashless policy over time. With the new policy individuals and corporations will be forced to rely mainly on online banking for huge withdrawals.