Cash withdrawal limit: Bankers, Insurers, others give conditional support

…Say there are pros, cons of new policy

Bankers, Insurers among others in the nation’s financial institutions, have given conditional support to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, new N100,000 cash withdrawal limit, saying there were prons and cons of the new monetary policy.

Under the umbrella of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI, they spoke weekend in Lagos, during the hand over ceremony to the new leaders of the Association.

According to them, while the policy would among others reduce incidences of robbery attack on bank customers after cash withdrawals, it would, however, create problems for the unbanked and those without access to payment platforms.

Speaking, new President of ASSBIFI, Olusoji Oluwole, said: “Nigeria has not reached such level of financial inclusion. The policy should give room for financial inclusion, for areas where you cannot have the payment platform like online payment system. If infrastructure is not right, the policy will be a problem.

“To achieve a cashless environment, it is not just banks, it will involve banking, power sector and telecommunications sector. All must be up and running, if not, nothing will be right.

“With festive season, a tougher situation is coming into an already hard situation.

“The policy has its pros and cons. Some of the pros are that it enhances the cashless society but it should be a cashless society where there is inclusiveness. There is limit to the cash that you can carry and reduces the risk of attacks by robbers.

“We have people who are in the environment where they do not have inclusiveness. We have people who do not have bank accounts because they cannot provide the minimum requirements to be banked. These are the unbanked. If these challenges or issues are not addressed, they will create a problem for us. The lack of inclusiveness is the negative part of it.

“Our problem with this kind of policy is they always put the cart before the horse. You come out with a policy that you will start thinking of how to make it work, rather than working on how it work gradually before you bring out the policy for full implementation.”