Customers can exchange mutilated bank notes after September 2 deadline — CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Saturday said that the general public would continue to return mutilated bank notes to their banks after the Sept. 2 deadline. The Director, CBN Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okoroafor disclosed this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. NAN reports that this is contrary to the news making round that mutilated notes collection would stop after the deadline. Okoroafor said that people had been misinterpreting the story to say that the banks would stop collection of mutilated notes after Sept.2.

“It is not true, the banks will continue to accept those notes from people. The general public should continue to return mutilated bank notes to their banks after the deadline. The September 2, 2019, deadline does not apply to bank customers or the general public who will continue to return mutilated notes to the banks. It only applies to the banks because free sorting of Naira notes for them will cease at the expiration of that deadline,” Okoroafor said. He noted that Sept. 2 was only the deadline after which CBN would begin to charge banks.

Okoroafor said that “we opened a window from June to September, so that when they bring the notes without sorting, we can sort it for them free. But as from Sept. 2 , if they get those notes, they need to sort it before they bring it to us. The deposit by customers and acceptance by commercial banks of mutilated notes is a normal and continuous banking practice and as such continues even after Sept. 2. Anyone whose qualifying mutilated note is rejected by any bank should report such a bank to CBN by calling 07002255226 between 9am and 4pm daily,” he said.

On banks compliance level to the CBN mutilated notes directive, Okoroafor said that: “I wouldn’t know what the compliance level is now until we ask our currency people. “But all we know is that they are returning the notes, they have been bringing it in and we have been replacing it with new ones,” he told NAN. Recall that the CBN had opened a three-month window from June 3 to Sept. 2 for customers across the country to replace old notes with new ones in all the banks. The apex bank said this was part of its efforts to improve the overall quality of the naira notes in circulation. (NAN)