Banks Announce Stiff Punishment for Customers Involved in Fraudulent FX Purchase

• Punishment would be meted to fraudulent individuals who contravene CBN's rules regarding the purchase of foreign exchange
• Segun Agbaje, the group managing director of a new generation bank made this known on Thursday, August 12
• Agbaje speaking after a meetingwarned that any one caught would not be able to do anything in the banking system again

The bankers’ committee, on Thursday, August 12, threatened to sanction customers caught using fraudulent means to purchase foreign exchange in the country.

ThisDay reports that the announcement was made at the end of the forum's meeting made up of bank CEOs, directors of different Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) departments.

According to the committee, any customer caught would be blacklisted as a post-no-debit (PND) would be placed on the account.

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The Group Chief Executive Officer of a new generation bank Segun Agbaje, speaking to newsmen revealed plans to begin the sale of forex to customers through the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS).

He stressed that the initiative is a means of protecting themselves, adding that financial insitutions have taken it upon themselves to make sure this works., The Cable added.

The bank CEO went on to note that foreign exchange for personal travel allowance (PTA), tuition fees, among others, would soon be sold online.

Agbaje explained that the committee collaborated with the platform to create a portal where information on FX sales would be shared real-time to help checkmate arbitrage.

Godwin Emefiele explains why CBN won't provide FX to Bureau de Change operators

Earlier, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced its decision that Bureau de Change operators will no longer get foreign exchange from apex bank following accusations of money laundering.

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Godwin Emefiele, the head of the financial regulator made the new development known on July 27, during the monetary policy committee meeting in Abuja.

Emefiele stated that the bureau de change operators connive with corrupt persons to conduct money laundering in Nigeria, and CBN can no longer accept the bad practices.

Ex-CBN Head criticises Emefiele's decision to ban BDC operators from selling forex

Meanwhile, Obadiah Mailafia, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has criticised the decision of the apex bank to stop providing foreign exchange to bureau de change operators.

Mailafia said the decision could weaken the value of naira against the dollars and other foreign currencies, as there might be a scarcity of forex.

With his experience of the banking system in Nigeria, Mailafia said the banks might hoard forex for themselves and sell at a high cost to buyers whenever the lenders want.

Source: Legit.ng