Bank associations pledge availability of naira notes

Three financial associations have assured that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks would do everything possible to ensure availability of the naira notes to the general public.

The associations are Chief Security Officers in Banks (CSOs), Committee of Heads of Operations of Banks (CHOBs), and Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB).

The ACAMB President, Rasheed Bolarinwa, in a statement issued on Monday said the associations gave the assurance via a communique released at the end of their meeting in Lagos on Sunday.

The associations assured Nigerians that the apex bank and commercial banks were doing everything possible to make the naira notes available.

They also expressed hope of return to normalcy in the shortest possible time.

“The banks resolved to continuously engage customers on efforts being made to lessen the current hardship being experienced, pending when all the challenges will be resolved.

“The bank heads appealed to Nigerians, particularly the traders and merchants to embrace and adopt the cashless policy by accepting fund transfers from their customers.

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“They noted that the random glitches associated with recent transfer options will also ease out in no distant time,” Bolarinwa said.

He appealed to security agencies to increase patrol and surveillance on bank locations, especially those located in places prone to attacks, to forestall further attacks.

Bolarinwa added that the associations also urged traditional institutions, heads community development association, and leaders in various markets across Nigeria to educate the people on the immediate and long-term benefits of cashless policy.

Bolarinwa, however, urged bank customers to leverage several available alternative channels provided by banks to consummate 99 per cent of all their transactions and focus less on cash.

The ACAMB President stressed that commercial banks neither hide nor hoard money they received from the CBN.

He assured that banks would make money received available to their customers over the counter or through the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

The Star