Huge Gap in Black Market, Official Exchange Rate Increase Forex Scam as Banks Publish More Names, Zenith Leads
- In compliance with CBN directives, ten Nigerian banks have revealed the names of customers buying cheap dollars to likely resell at the black market
- In a circular in July 2021, CBN had directed banks to publicize the identities of persons who engage in such behaviour and to restrict them from obtaining currency in the future
- The huge gap between the black market and the official rate has further created a market for some unscrupulous Nigerians to profit from
The widening difference between the black market and official rates has worsened the forex fraud, as banks publish more names of Nigerians attempting to cheat the system in an attempt to make more money.
As of Wednesday, 23 February 2022, the dollar exchanged for N416 at the official market and N575 at the black market. This is a gap of over N159.
Checks on the websites of ten commercial banks reveal that over 1,226 identities have been exposed thus far.
Source: Facebook
Breakdown
On its website, Zenith Bank listed 990 foreign exchange (FX) offenders, while Polaris Bank and Sterling Bank listed 40 and 53, respectively.
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Access Bank on its website has 29, Fidelity Bank reported 83, First City Monument Bank had nine, Stanbic IBTC Bank reported 15, Standard Chartered Bank had four, United Bank for Africa had three, and Wema Bank has so far published just one name.
Polaris Bank stated on its website that despite follow-ups with the 54 consumers, it did not reimburse the Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) sold to them.
Sterling Bank also stated that its clients cancelled their trip but did not return the PTA provided to them, despite repeated phone calls and texts.
Six of the bank's customers also provided bogus visas or passports while applying for PTA, according to the bank.
Source: Facebook
In July of last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria directed Deposit Money Banks (DMB) to publish the names and Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) of clients who breached the guidelines.
CBN spends N538.59m disposing of 1.51 Billion Dirty Naira notes in 2020
The Central Bank of Nigeria said it sustained banknotes disposal operations in 2020 to ensure the circulation of clean banknotes.
The naira notes which are unfit and disposed of range from N1000 to N5 note with N500 accounting for 38.2%.
The dirty notes were put into 151,427 boxes according to CBN and disposed of with the sum of N538.59 million.
Source: Legit.ng
