Commercial Banks Defy CBN Order Allow N500 old Notes Deposit

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Commercial banks have started collecting the old N500 and N1,000 naira notes from their customers in disregard to Central Bank order not to extend the swap beyond N200 old notes

In contradiction to the apex bank’s position, checks showed that the cash return portal of the CBN directed people with old N500 and old N1,000 notes below N500,000 to go to their bank to make the deposit.

It was discovered that there were Long queues in front of banks as customers attempted to gain access into the banking halls.

At Access Bank in Megida bus stop, Ayobo, a bank official was calling out the names of customers from a sheet of paper.

Once a customer’s name is called, he/she is allowed to proceed into the bank.

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The bank official said they would stop attending to customers by 2pm.

Meanwhile, some customers outside the bank lamented that they were unable to generate a reference number from the CBN portal.

“I have been here since 10am. This is almost 2pm. The CBN portal is saying validation error. I can’t generate the reference code so I can’t go in,” a customer, simply identified as John

At branches of Access Bank and First Bank in Iyana Ipaja, customers were allowed to deposit their old notes.

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) branches in Ikorodu and Airport Road were also attending to customers.

At a Sterling Bank branch only those who have generated the CBN reference number were being allowed in.

A security officer at a United Bank for Africa (UBA) branch in the area said the bank has stopped attending to people for the day.

“We will open again on Monday,” he said.

At the time of visit (2pm), a small group of customers at a Access Bank branch in Ikorodu were waiting to get attended to under a canopy outside the bank.

“They opened in the morning to get collect the notes. But now they’ve closed,” a customer said.

Another customer said they were waiting to see if the bank workers would allow them in or tell them when to come back.

Additional Details from The Cable.