UPDATE: Almost two years after the bank accounts of some companies and individuals were frozen, Nigeria’s apex bank on Tuesday, July 26, 2023, directed banks to vacate a post-no-debit restriction placed on the affected accounts.
In a circular signed by A.M. Barau on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), directed the banks to notify the concerned customers of the vacation of post-no-debit on their bank accounts.
The 2021 sanction
The cleaning process of the foreign exchange market continues as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed that it has frozen the accounts of another 18 companies in the country.
The apex bank would not disclose what their offence was before directing banks to place post-no-debit on the accounts.
A post-no-debit means that all withdrawals including ATMs and cheque debits from the accounts will be blocked but can receive inflows.
Findings show that most of the affected accounts belong to Bureau De Change operators, construction firms, property companies, investment companies, and laundry services.
“You are hereby directed to place all accounts of the under-listed customers on Post-No-Debit (PND) restriction,” a circular signed by the official of CBN reads.
The affected BDCs and other companies are:
- Bakori Mega Services,
- Ashambrakh General Enterprise,
- Namuduka Ventures Limited,
- Crosslinks Capital and Investment Limited,
- IGP Global Synergy Limited,
- Davedan Mille Investment Limited
- Urban Laundry
- Advanced Multi-Links Services Limited,
- Spray Resources,
- Al-Ishaq Global Resources Limited,
- Himark Intertrades,
- Charblecom Concept Limited,
- Wudatage Global Resources.
- Treynor Soft Ventures,
- Fyrstrym Global Concepts Limited,
- Samarize Global Nigeria Limited
- Zahraddeen Haruna Shahru.
CBN also directed banks to forward details of the companies, a statement signed by the Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna B. Mustapha, said.
What’s their offence?
Although the apex bank didn’t say, the action is however similar to the one taken against six forex online trading platforms which accounts were blocked on August 17 for FX infractions (https://infomediang.com/implications-6-fintech-online-investment-account-frozen-by-cbn ).
Similarly, CBN vowed to deal severely with microfinance banks that engage in forex trading or handle money beyond their limit.
The latest sanction followed the action of the announcement by the CBN in July that it would no longer sell FX to BDC operators, describing them as agents of money laundering through forex.
CBN says only Nigerians who need forex for Personal Travel Allowance, foreign medicals, school fees abroad, and Business Travel Allowance (BTA) should approach financial institutions with the requirements to buy FX.
It also directed banks to establish forex teller points to make it easy for Nigerians to access forex without delay, even though the association of BDCs said the policy of the apex bank would not stop them from sourcing FX from alternative ‘markets’