Bank customers not affected by deadline for return of mutilated naira notes – CBN

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that bank customers would continue to return mutilated banknotes to their banks after the September 2 deadline.

The apex bank’s director of corporate communications, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor who disclosed this in an interview in Lagos on Saturday said the clarification had become necessary in view of the fear that mutilated notes collection would stop after the deadline.

He said people had been misinterpreting the story to mean that the banks would stop the collection of mutilated notes after September 2.

“It is not true; the banks will continue to accept those notes from people.

“The general public should continue to return mutilated banknotes to their banks after the deadline.

“The September 2, 2019, deadline does not apply to bank customers or the general public who will continue to return mutilated notes to the banks.

“It only applies to the banks because free sorting of naira notes for them will cease at the expiration of that deadline,” he said.

He noted that September 2 was only the deadline after which CBN would begin to charge banks.

“We opened a window from June to September so that when they bring the notes without sorting, we can sort it for them free.

“But as from September 2, if they get those notes, they need to sort it before they bring it to us.

“The deposit by customers and acceptance by commercial banks of mutilated notes is a normal and continuous banking practice and as such continues even after September 2.

“Anyone whose qualifying mutilated note is rejected by any bank should report such a bank to CBN by calling 07002255226 between 9am and 4pm daily,” he said.

On banks’ compliance to the directive so far, Okoroafor said: “I wouldn’t know what the compliance level is now until we ask our currency people.

“But all we know is that they are returning the notes, they have been bringing it in and we have been replacing it with new ones,” he told NAN.

It would be recalled that the CBN had opened a three-month window from June 3 to September 2 for customers across the country to replace old notes with new ones in all the banks.

The bank said this was part of its efforts to improve the overall quality of the naira notes in circulation.

With NAN report

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