Nigeria limits ATM withdrawals to N20,000 daily

A daily limit of N20,000 will be placed on cash withdrawals from ATMs in Nigeria beginning January 9, 2023.

Individuals are limited to withdrawing a maximum of N100,000 per week from ATMs in case of a cash need. In other words, Nigerians can only withdraw N20,000 per day and N100,000 per week maximum.

The Abuja-based Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sent out a circular on Tuesday with this information for all deposit money banks and other financial institutions.

It states that “the maximum cash withdrawal each week via Automated Teller Machine (ATM) shall be N100,000 subject to a limit of N20,000 cash withdrawal per day; only denominations of N200 and less shall be placed into the ATMs, and the maximum cash withdrawal via point-of-sale (PoS) terminal shall be N20,000 daily.”

“The maximum cash withdrawal over the counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organisations per week shall henceforth be N100,000 and N500,000, respectively,” reads the rest of the circular issued by the CBN’s Director of Banking Supervision Haruna B. Mustafa.

The CBN said there would be new processing fees of 5% and 10% for withdrawals exceeding certain thresholds.

CBN restricts weekly cash withdrawals to N100,000 for individuals and N500,000 for businesses.

Additionally, “Third-party cheques above N50,000 will not be eligible for payment over the counter from next year, while extant limits of N10,000,000 on clearing cheques still subsist.”

The CBN has directed DMBs and OFIs that “in compelling circumstances, not exceeding once a month, where cash withdrawals above the prescribed limits are required for legitimate purposes, such cash withdrawals shall not exceed N5,000,000.00 and 10,000,000.00 for individuals and corporate organisations, respectively.”

Despite this, the “referenced processing fees of 5% and 10% as the case may be” will still apply to such withdrawals.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) motivation for this move is not unrelated to its goals of reducing inflation and the money supply in the system and encouraging the use of other banking channels to increase financial inclusion for the Nigerian population.

The bank’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, hinted at this change in response to a question from the media on withdrawal limits during the most recent meeting of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).