The widespread rejection of the old N500 and N1,000 as worsened by banks’ refusal to accept deposits of the notes without registration on the Cash Return Portal, CRP of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Following the February 10th CBN deadline for the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, the CBN established the CRP for bank customers to register old notes intended for deposit. After registration, the depositor gets a reference code. The reference code must be submitted to the bank before the deposit is accepted by the customer.
Vanguard investigations reveal that banks cannot accept deposits of old notes from customers until the CBN suspends or eliminates CRP registration of old notes deposits.
Although banks are giving out old N500 and N1, 000 notes, they are not allowing customers to freely deposit the notes into their bank accounts.
Confirming this development to Vanguard, a banker said, “Customers are still not collecting the old N500 and N1,000 notes because when they ask if they can pay it back into their accounts, we tell them yes, but with the CRP reference number. Without the CRP reference number, we cannot accept deposits of the old notes.”
Meanwhile, the widespread rejection of the old notes coupled with the scarcity of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes has worsened the ongoing cash crunch.
According to a bank staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity, “The last time we were supplied with new notes was about three weeks ago, while supply of the old ones started this week.”