The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday directed commercial banks to open new dollar accounts with offshore lenders for receiving international money transfers.
The directive was disclosed by WorldRemit, an International Money Transfer Operators (IMTO) player to its clients.
The order is coming two months after the CBN raised the alarm that its policy mandating IMTOs to pay Diaspora remittance to beneficiaries in dollars was being flouted.
The regulator further directed that all mobile money operators should disable wallets from receipt of funds from IMTOs, following abuse of policy guidelines by the IMTOs.
According to CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, analysed data on and investigations of IMTOs inflows into the country over the past year, showed that some IMTOs, rather than compete on improving transaction volumes and creating more efficient ways for Nigerians in the Diaspora to remit funds, resorted to engaging in arbitrage arrangements on the naira-dollar exchange rate.
This, to a large extent, the CBN governor said, resulted in a significant drop inflows into the country.
Emefiele warned against the use of unsafe unofficial channels which also support the diversion of remittance flows meant for Nigeria, thereby undermining Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange management framework.
In its response to the new policy, WorldRemit, said it welcomed the CBN announcement that all Nigerian banks will be ordered to facilitate money transfers by automatically opening US Dollar bank accounts for those who do not currently have such.
It said: “This development ensures that all international money transfers will be successfully processed even if senders enter Naira account details for transactions. Further to this announcement, the CBN also stated that a $2,000 withdrawal limit will apply to these accounts.”
“A number of analysts have described this recent development as a long-awaited and broadly welcome policy that will benefit both senders and recipients. The apex bank has said these changes will ensure that transactions do not fail due to a recipient not having a US Dollar bank account.
“It will also introduce transparency by guaranteeing that all recipients receive an exchange rate that reflects the market rate.”
Country Manager, Nigeria and Ghana at WorldRemit, Gbenga Okejimi, said: “We are very pleased by the CBN’s decision to mandate Nigerian banks to help citizens who do not have a USD account by automatically providing this facility on their behalf.
“This development will make all the difference to those who receive support from family and friends abroad.”
He said the company was excited by the fact that it can continue to enable the transfer of remittances to more people across Nigeria whilst also supporting the Nigerian government in its efforts to strengthen the economy.
Okejimi added that WorldRemit has expanded its US Dollar payout option with nine of its existing bank partners. He said customers of FCMB, First Bank, Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, GTBank and UBA can now also access US Dollar payout through the bank transfer and cash pickup options.
Those receiving transfers into Union Bank, Polaris Bank and Zenith Bank accounts can access US Dollar payout only through the cash pickup option.
He said the company has developed a Transfer Tracker App which allows recipients of money transfers to track their funds. The app is free to download through the Google app store in a number of countries, including Nigeria.