The 774 Local Government Areas of the federation now have Cash Swap Centres set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This was stated in a circular the apex bank released over the weekend.
The circular, dated January 20, 2023, and signed by Haruna Mustafa and Musa Jimoh, Directors of Banking Supervision and Payments Systems, respectively, announced that the Cash Centres would open tomorrow.
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The circular, which was sent to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Mobile Money Operators, Super Agents, and Agents, stated that the initiative would make it easy for rural residents to exchange their old Naira Notes for the new ones.
It reads;
In furtherance of its Naira Redesign policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sustained its nationwide awareness/sensitization programmes, enforced speedy collection of the new notes at CBN branches by the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and mandated issuance of the new notes through Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to ensure distribution is fair, transparent and evenly spread across the country.
In addition to these measures and in recognition of the need to maximise the channels through which underserved and rural communities can exchange their Naira, the Bank is launching a cash swap programme in partnership with Super Agents & DMBs. The programme enables citizens in rural areas or those with limited access to formal financial services to exchange old Naira notes for redesigned notes.
The CBN further detailed the processes involved in order to ease the mandate.
It further stated;
The initiative takes effect from Monday, January 23, 2023 as follows:
The old N1000, N500, N200 notes can be exchanged for the newly redesigned notes and/or the existing lower denominations (N100, N50 and N20, etc) which remain legal tender.
The agent shall exchange a maximum of N10,000 per person. Amounts above N10,000 may be treated as cash-in deposit into wallets or bank accounts in line with the cashless policy. BVN, NIN, or Voter’s card details of the customers should be captured as much as possible.
To promote financial inclusion, this service is also available to anybody without a bank account. Agents may, on request instantly open a wallet or account, leveraging the CBN Tiered KYC Framework. This will ensure that this category of the populace are able to exchange or deposit their cash seamlessly without taking unnecessary risk or incurring undue cost.
Cash Swap agents will be readily identifiable in all local governments, particularly those in the rural areas.
The CBN will continue to monitor implementation of the programme and provide further guidance as may be necessary.”
