The directive is contained in a circular issued by the bank on Wednesday and signed by Haruna Mustafa, director of banking supervision department.

The development comes two weeks after the CBN reduced the weekly over-the-counter cash withdrawal limit for individuals to N100,000 and that of corporate organisations to N500,000.

The bank also reduced withdrawals at automated teller machines (ATMs) and point-of-sale terminals to N20,000 per day.

In the circular, the apex bank said it made the upward review based on feedback received from stakeholders.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hereby makes the following reviews: (1) the maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawal across all channels by individuals and corporate organizations shall be N500,000.00 and N5,000,000.00 respectively,” the circular reads.

“2. In compelling circumstances where cash withdrawal above the limits in (1) is required for legitimate purposes, such requests shall be subject to a processing fee of 3 percent and 5 percent for individuals and corporate organisations, respectively.

“Further to (2) above, the financial institution shall obtain the following information from the customer, at the minimum, and upload same on the CBN portal created for the purpose: valid means of identification of the payee (national ID, international passport, or driver’s license), bank verification number (BVN) of the payee, tax identification number (TIN) of both the payee and the payer, and an approval in writing by the MD/CEO of the financial institution authorising the withdrawal.

“Third party cheques above N100,000 shall not be eligible for payment over-the-counter, while the extant limit of N10 million on clearing cheques still subsist.”