If you can recalled earlier in October, in line with the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to all Deposit Money Banks on ensuring the fulfilment of legitimate FX requests for PTA/BTA only in its efforts to minimize the current FX crisis in Nigeria which resulted in Naira depreciation against US Dollar. Also you should recall that, The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had announced that it will inject extra dollars into approved banks in order to increase the economys foreign exchange supply.
The CBN had earlier directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to set up teller points in designated branches for the sale of foreign exchange to meet legitimate forex requests of their customers.
In complying with the CBNs directive, deposit money banks in the country swiftly moved to set up teller points within their banking halls to attend to the forex needs of customers.
The CBN had also directed that travellers who buy foreign exchange from banks for travel purposes but fail to embark on the trip after 2 weeks of their scheduled travel date must return the forex to the banks or face prosecution.
Therefore it restricted all banks to offer Forex only to legitimate users. Such legitimate needs include Business Travel Allowance (BTA), Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), school fees and medicals.
One of the leading banks, Access Bank Plc has created an easier process to access Forex via the Access Travel Debit Card. According to the bank, effective October 18, 2021, all payments of legitimate and approved PTA will now be credited to the Access Travel Debit Card for use outside Nigeria. On request, you can also get cashback in Naira equivalent using the prevailing approved rate, the bank said in a statement to customers.
The benefits of the Access Travel Debit Card include instant issuance for PTA/BTA requests, easy access to international transactions via POS, ATM and WEB. The card is valid for 3 years and can be used for current and subsequent PTA/BTA requests within its validity.
The Bank furtther explained that, It‘s because a lot of people have been collecting Personal Traveling Allowance and Business Traveling Allowance (PTA/BTA) from banks at 412 and then selling to black market aboki at 570. Now they want to block that loophole . So this move by access bank is to combat and checkmate that anomaly They don’t want people to do that and cash out anymore. So now, once you are approved for your PTA or BTA, access bank won‘t give you cash anymore, they will pay it into this Debit card and that way, you can’t sell the funds to Aboki again. If you want to collect cash, you will have to collect it in naira at the bank rate of 412 as the article said.
Although This move will just make things tougher for access bank customers traveling, because some people will need cash to sort out certain things. Not everything can be paid or would be convenient to pay with debit card.
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