The Central Bank of Nigeria has removed all limits on cash deposits for bank customers, even as it retained strict weekly withdrawal caps under a revised cash-management framework set to begin on January 1, 2026.
The policy update was contained in a circular issued on Tuesday and signed by the Director of the Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Dr. Rita Sike. According to the apex bank, the new rules were introduced “to reflect present-day realities” after years of adjustments to its cashless policy.
A major highlight of the circular is the complete abolition of the cumulative deposit limit. With this change, customers will no longer pay processing fees for depositing cash above any threshold — a reversal of the charges first introduced in 2019 as part of efforts to curb excessive cash circulation and boost government revenue collection.
Although deposit limits have been scrapped, the CBN maintained the weekly withdrawal ceilings: N500,000 for individuals and N5 million for corporates across all channels. Withdrawals above these limits will continue to attract 3% and 5% processing fees for individuals and companies, respectively, with the charges shared between the CBN and financial institutions in a 40:60 ratio.
The bank also announced the end of the special approvals that previously allowed individuals to withdraw up to N5 million and corporates up to N10 million monthly. ATM withdrawals remain capped at N100,000 daily and N500,000 weekly, and will count toward the overall weekly limit. All denominations may now be loaded into ATMs.
Meanwhile, the N100,000 over-the-counter limit for third-party cheque encashment remains unchanged and will form part of the weekly withdrawal calculation.
Banks are expected to file monthly reports on all withdrawals above the specified limits and on cash deposits. They are also mandated to maintain dedicated internal accounts to hold charges collected on excess withdrawals.
While government revenue-generating accounts and accounts of microfinance and primary mortgage banks remain exempt, the CBN clarified that embassies, diplomatic missions, and aid-donor agencies will no longer enjoy exemptions under the revised rules.
The new circular nullifies 24 previous directives on cash-related policies issued by the apex bank.
