The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has announced that the implementation of the cashless policy would commence in March 2020.
It also announced a review of the process for merchant settlement.
According to the bank, what that means is that charges would be imposed on deposits in addition to already existing charges on withdrawals.
In a statement signed by the Director, Payments System Management Department at the bank, Sam Okojere, on Tuesday, the CBN said “with effect from September 17, 2019, the CBN has approved for banks to unbundle merchant settlement amounts and charge applicable taxes and duties on individual transactions as stipulated by regulations.”
The review according to the apex bank is to further promote the cashless policy and enhance the collection of applicable government revenues.
It said henceforth, the charges had been reduced from 0.75 per cent capped at N1, 200 to 0.50 per cent capped at N1, 000.
According to the circular, the charges which take effect from Wednesday, September 17, will now attract three per cent processing fees for withdrawals and two per cent processing fees for lodgments of amounts above N500, 000 for individual accounts.
Corporate accounts on the other hand would attract charges of five per cent processing fees for withdrawals and three per cent processing fee for lodgments of amounts above N3, 000, 000.
The circular, stated however, that the charge on deposits would apply in Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Anambra, Abia, and Kano States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
It added that the implementation of the cashless policy would take effect from March 31, 2020.
