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International money transfers must be in naira — CBN

By BusinessNews Staff on June 20, 2014

The Central Bank of Nigeria has unveiled guidelines to regulate international money transfer services in the country.

The 19-page document, posted on the central bank website on Wednesday, is meant to ensure that money transfer services companies, agents, banks, and all those engaged in the provision of international money transfer services uphold global standards.

The CBN, in the document, directed hence forth all inbound international money transfers must be paid to beneficiaries in naira only and through a bank account or mobile money wallet

Similarly, the central bank mandated that all outbound international money transfers must, henceforth, be done in naira.

The guideline also pegged outbound money transfer at $2,000 per transaction.

The guidelines read in part, “Allowable limit of the outbound money transfer shall be $2,000 or its equivalent per transaction, subject to periodic review by the CBN. All inbound money transfers to Nigeria shall only be disbursed to beneficiaries through bank accounts or mobile money wallets

“Where the beneficiary does not have a bank account or mobile money wallet, payments shall only be made upon the provision of a satisfactory reference from a current account holder in a bank, confirming that the beneficiary is the bona fide owner of the funds.”

According to the guidelines, the currency to be given to a money transfer agent for an outbound transfer shall be the naira; all outward payment transaction shall be executed in a convertible currency agreed between the parties.

It added, “Where a currency conversion service is offered before initiation of a payment transaction or at the point of payment, the money transfer services operator must disclose all charges, as well as the exchange rate to be used for converting the payment transaction.”

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