UBA Offers $2,000; GTBank, FCMB, Ecobank Customers Get $1,000
Effects of the sustained Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention in various segments of the foreign exchange window in the country’s inter-bank market may have become more evident as various banks luring customers with offer of increased spending limit on their US$ denominated payment cards preparatory to their traveling for summer holidays abroad.
From a flat maximum of $100 spending limit placed on their cards by Nigerian banks in the height the forex crisis leading to the Naira exchanging at an all-time N520/US$ early this year, customers can now spend as much as between $500 and $2000 from their debit cards abroad monthly.
While United Bank for Africa has offered $2000 monthly, 1,900% above the previous limit to its card holders, FCMB in a message to customers wrote: “your Naira Debit Card spending limit has now increased so you can enjoy international shopping online and at POS pay points this summer. Old Limit – $100; (and) New Limit – $500.”
Guaranty Trust Bank raised the cap on amount a holder of its naira Mastercard can spend abroad in a month to $1,000 from $100, in line with “the relative improvement in foreign-exchange liquidity in the market,’’ Meksley Nwagboh, a spokesman for the lender said Monday in an emailed response to questions by Bloomberg.
Ecobank Transnational Inc. has set a $1,000 per day limit from $100.
The central bank’s creation of a market-determined foreign-exchange trading window for investors and exporters in April increased access to dollars and enabled Guaranty Trust Bank to increase its spending limit, Nwagboh said.
Ecobank’s “slightly improved dollar liquidity” has put it in a position “to boost foreign-exchange payments nationwide,” Tunde Kuponiyi, the head of consumer banking, also told Bloomberg on Monday in an emailed response.
“The change in the withdrawal limit is another signal that banks are less concerned about foreign exchange liquidity than before,’’ London-based Exotix Capital said in a July 14 note to clients.
