First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Guaranty Trust Bank, Ecobank Transnational Inc and First Bank of Nigeria Limited, among many other lenders have increased the limits on international transactions on Naira Cards.
For instance, FirstBank in its drive to promote convenience and ease of business for customers has raised the limits on international transactions on Naira Cards to $1,100 monthly across ATMs, PoS, and online channels, with the daily ATM withdrawals raised to $300.
The lender said that customers can now enjoy increased access to funds using the FirstBank Naira Master Cards, Naira Prepaid and Naira Credit Cards for International payments.
However, customers in UAE and China have a monthly limit of $250 for PoS and Online transactions. Customers are encouraged to continue to leverage FirstBank’s dollar denominated credit and prepaid cards even they also enjoy the raised transaction value on the Naira Cards.
ThegeniusMedia, however, learnt that improved foreign exchange supply for Nigerian banks are the major reason for the increased dollar spending limits for payment cards that are denominated in local currency,
Similarly, Guaranty Trust Bank, raised the maximum amount a holder of its naira Mastercard can spend abroad in a month to $1,000 from $100, in line with “the relative improvement in foreign-exchange liquidity in the market.
On the same vein, Ecobank Transnational Inc. had also raised their limit to the same amount while the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Group will implement its on increase to a new spending limit of $500 per month this week according their officials.
This upward turn of financial policies put an end to the suspension of foreign payments using Naira cards in 2015 and 2016 following the decline of the production and prices of crude oil, the country’s main export.
However, the Central Bank’s creation of a market-determined foreign-exchange trading window for investors and exporters in April increased access to dollars and enabled banks to increase their spending limit while improving the dollar liquidity of the lenders.
This development has also enabled the banks in a stronger position to boost foreign exchange payments nationwide. The new international spend limits is coming on the heels of increased availability of foreign exchange in the economy
