Diaspora Remittances: Central Bank Of Nigeria Issues Fresh Guidelines

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued fresh guidelines on the management and payment of diaspora remittances to recipients, mandating the international money transfer operator (IMTO) to ensure that transfer funds are deposited in “the agent bank’s correspondent account”.

The apex bank, in the circular issued recently, also authorized the recipients to decide how they would be paid.

The circular signed by Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Dr. Ozoemena Nnaji, states that “The mode of payment either in cash or transfer is at the sole discretion of the beneficiaries/recipients.”

The apex bank also said the commercial banks, as against IMTOs, would henceforth take responsibility for payment of remittances to beneficiaries/recipients.

The directive followed a similar one issued on Monday on the domiciliary account management.

The bank had in the earlier circular provided policy guidelines on the operation of export proceeds and ordinary domiciliary accounts.