Internet marketers in Nigeria and online shoppers are already lamenting the ban on ATM cards abroad and online by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The purpose of the ban is as a result of the Nigerian economy that is currently witnessing one of the greatest pressure in history which have seen the country’s currency somersaulted from the sky to the ground as regards to foreign exchange. This year 2015 alone, dollar has jumped from N150 to N260 per dollar.
With measures to cushion the effect of the falling Naira and the insufficiency of foreign currencies the Apex bank recently handed money deposits bank in the country a policy that asked them to commence the restriction of the use of ATM cards by their customers while abroad
Many folks out there have misunderstood this directive handed to money deposit banks in the country by CBN which will prevent bank customers from using ATM cards while abroad.
And so we decided to give you a breakdown of this policy in order for you to know what it fully entails and on what transactions are now allowed or restricted
Firstly, the policy will prevent those with Naira dominated ATM cards from using their ATM cards outside the country on all types of transactions ranging from withdrawal transaction to online transactions and to POS transactions etc.
But if your ATM card is dominated in foreign currency, let’s say in Dollars, you will not be affected by the policy while abroad as you can still carry out all your transactions there with your Dollar dominated ATM card.
Secondly, while in Nigeria, the policy prevents the use of your Naira dominated card on any transactions that is not in Naira, for example, you will no longer be able to use your Naira ATM cards to transact on online shops that accepts only foreign currencies like E-bay, Amazon, AliExpress, Godaddy etc. but you can still use the cards on online shops like Jumia, Konga, Slot etc. that accept Naira payment.
On the reversal, if you are using foreign currency dominated ATM card, you can no longer do a ATM withdrawal transaction with it here in Nigeria but you can use it to transact on those online shops that accept only foreign currencies.
For those with Payoneer MasterCard, you should know that your Payoneer card is dominated in foreign currency and with the present policy; you will no longer be able to make ATM withdrawal transactions with your Payoneer while in Nigeria but you can opt to use it on those sites that accept foreign currencies.
Now, what will be the way forward for those that still want to transact online with ease under this new policy?
