Commercial banks have reviewed their policy on forex sales to Nigerian students abroad and travellers.
Quarterly dollar disbursements to customers were slashed, with a limit to students schooling abroad pegged at $1,500 as against $4,000.
The Nation gathered that the cut followed dollar scarcity, which has led to fewer allocations of the currency to banks, reduced dollar deposits and difficulty faced by businesses in accessing forex.
Some of the banks cut the amount of foreign currency customers can spend on payment cards abroad to as low as $20 monthly.
In an e-mailed note to customers, titled: Update on Foreign Currency Transactions, Access Bank said it will between now and December 2022, process only one maintenance/ upkeep request yearly per student schooling abroad for a maximum amount of $1,500.
The bank explained that such service will only apply to customers whose school fees are processed through its branches. It added that such would be subject to maintenance/ upkeep not having already been disbursed previously at any time of the year.
“Where the original school fees payments were settled through other banks, we will not process the corresponding maintenance/ upkeep requests. Applicants will be advised to contact the bank that originally processed their school fees,” the bank said.
Access bank also said that all applications that meet the above criteria will be processed and disbursed within 30 days from the date of approval.
The bank added that Personal Travel Allowance/Business Travel Allowance requests would be processed and disbursed within 14 days subject to forex availability.
These changes, it said, are designed to make the process simpler and more accessible for our customers.