Commercial banks in Nigeria have started raising the maximum daily cash withdrawal limit on automated teller machines (ATMs) to N200,000, months after imposing restrictions. Zenith Bank, in an email notice to customers, announced that they can now withdraw up to N200,000 per day from its ATM terminals nationwide, regardless of the bank that issued the card. However, the bank clarified that the N500,000 weekly cashless policy withdrawal limit for individuals remains unchanged.
It is speculated that other banks in the country may follow suit and allow their customers to withdraw larger amounts, around N200,000, from ATM terminals, although they have not made any public announcements to that effect.
Previously, most banks had imposed a daily withdrawal limit of N20,000 on their ATM terminals for cards issued by other banks. This limit was implemented during the naira redesign policy.
In December of the previous year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) restricted weekly cash withdrawals over the counter to N100,000 for individuals and N500,000 for organizations. It also set the daily cash withdrawal limit at N20,000 for point of sale (POS) transactions and ATM terminals, effective from January 9, 2023.
As a result, customers began seeking out their bank’s ATMs to make multiple withdrawals or resorted to making cash withdrawals over the counter.
Although the CBN circular specified a maximum weekly cash withdrawal of N100,000 via ATM, with a daily limit of N20,000, and the loading of only N200 and below denominations into ATMs, these restrictions have not been strictly enforced. Cash withdrawals through POS terminals have consistently exceeded N20,000, and ATMs have been dispensing only N1,000 and N500 notes.
