RismadarVoice Reporters
September 28, 2026
The Central Bank of Nigeria has begun investigating complaints that some commercial banks are restricting customers from withdrawing foreign currency from their domiciliary accounts.
The development follows reports from customers who have experienced difficulties withdrawing United States dollars and other foreign currencies deposited in their accounts.
Some banks have reportedly imposed limits on how much customers can withdraw, while others have cited shortages of foreign-currency cash or offered lower denominations than requested.
A source familiar with the matter said the CBN had received several complaints concerningabouties encounterecustomers faced whenegitimate foreign-currency withdrawals.
According to the source, the apex bank is considering measures aimed at ensuring that commercial banks honour legitimate withdrawal requests without unnecessary restrictions or delays.
The CBN may issue a circular directing banks to review their procedures for domiciliary accounts and discontinue practices that prevent customers from accessing legitimately held foreign-currency deposits.
Reports from some bank branches in Lagos indicated that customers requesting dollar withdrawals had been offered amounts below their requests.
In one reported case, a customer seeking to withdraw $5,000 was allegedly restricted to $3,000, while another customer was reportedly informed that dollar cash was unavailable.
There have also been allegations from banking sources that some financial institutions may be deploying available foreign-currency cash for other transactions instead of meeting customers’ withdrawal requests.
Those allegations have not been independently established.
The reported investigation comes amid concerns among domiciliary account holders over access to their foreign-currency deposits.
Domiciliary accounts allow customers to hold and transact in foreign currencies, including the US dollar, British pound and euro.
Any formal directive from the CBN is expected to provide clearer guidance to commercial banks on the handling of foreign-currency cash withdrawals and the obligations of financial institutions to customers seeking access to funds held in their domiciliary accounts.
