The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered all authorised foreign exchange dealers to credit the accounts of beneficiaries of repatriated foreign exchange within 24 hours.
The bank said the new directive would take effect from June and failure to comply would attract severe penalties.
The CBN also informed the dealers to ensure that all repatriated or unutilised foreign exchange must have the Retail Dutch Auction System number, date and bank’s name on the advice message.
The new directive was contained in a circular dated May 26 and released on the CBN’s website on Friday.
The circular read, “This is to inform all authorised dealers that from June 1, 2014, all payments for repatriated foreign exchange/unutilised Retail Dutch Auction System will now be paid in bulk and the dealers shall in turn credit the beneficiaries’ accounts within 24 hours, failing which appropriate sanction shall apply.
“A copy of schedule showing details of the bulk payment shall be collected by the authorised dealers at the CBN office. Authorised dealers are to ensure that all repatriated/unutilised foreign exchange advice must have the RDAS number, date and the bank’s name on the SWIFT message, for easy identification and processing.”
The CBN had a few months ago withdrawn the operating licences of more than 75 BDCs for contravening the forex guidelines. Agency Report
