Cash Limit: Mobile money, POS operators write CBN for exemption

Following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduction of cash withdrawal limits the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) has written to the apex bank requesting exclusion from the policy.

The request for exclusion, according to the body  is not aimed at reversing the policy but rather keeping the business of its estimated 1.4 million members afloat as the national president of the association, Victor Olojo, says the new policy will send his colleagues out of business.

“All of these efforts ARE NOT aimed at making the CBN change her policy but for us agents to be recognized and enable us to have access to more funds better than the 20,000 a day as prescribed by the new policy.

“You will agree with me as agents that if all we can access is 100,000 a week /20,000 a day as cash for running our business, then we are practically out of business,” Mr Olojo said in a statement.

The decision to write the CBN was reached at an emergency meeting of the association held in Abuja on Wednesday. The association also disclosed that it is engaging sister stakeholders, such as the Association of Licensed Operators (ALMPO), to present a joint front in addressing the situation, Olojo, in the statement said.

The association says it is also planning to organise press conferences in Lagos and Abuja as well as a protest to call the attention of the federal government to its displeasure.

“We plan to undertake other lines of action like organising a grand press conference in Lagos and Abuja and a protest,” the statement added.

The CBN announced on Tuesday that individuals and corporate organisations would not be able to withdraw more than N100,000 and N500,000, respectively, per week from over-the-counter, point-of-sale machines or automated teller machines.

Several commentators describe the policy as an attempt to tax all dimensions of financial transactions – cash and internet banking. According to the new CBN policy, cash withdrawals in excess of the restrictions will be subject to processing costs of five and 10 per cent, respectively. For mobile money operators, who have until now bridged the financial inclusion gap across the country, the policy will impose crushing cost on them.

Since the announcement of the new policy, thousands of operators have gone into a panic about what impact the policy would have on their business.

The policy, per the CBN memo, will come into effect on January 9, 2023, as the apex bank under Muhammadu Buhari’s regime continues its efforts to monitor the cash in circulation.