Last week, Nigerian external reserves hit an 11 year low and some banks have suspended ATM card usage abroad.
In a decent bit of investigative journalism, Punch have some insider insight as to why this is so.
Apparently at the last Bankers’ Committee meeting held in Lagos last week, a directive was issued to banks that they were only allowed a N5 profit margin to the official interbank rate on all foreign exchange-related transactions carried out with naira debit and credit cards.
An anonymous bank official said
“We have to sell at the rate we sourced it. How can we charge say N310 per dollar for something we sourced at around N400 per dollar. This is why the banks decided that rather than lose, we should just stop it. The CBN has given the directive and we have to cope, because we will give returns. So, rather than being found wanting, it is better to stop the forex transactions on our naira debit cards.”
Read the rest of the story over at, Punch.