It's not profitable to be law abiding in some sectors in Nigeria.That's the major problem

wealthprod:
i believe this is a topic we nigeria must treat seriously or else the bank are going to be taking us for a ride.
imagine Cbn selling dollar to the bank at the rate of 199 per dollar while bank in return will charge us at the rate of 301 or 300 per dollar when using your debit card to make transaction online

Nigeria let wake up and take this topic seriously because bank are not BDC but institution and they keep milking us this way
The best solution to this is to cry out and let the Cbn know what is happening so that the bank can be sanction for this

It is an old and well used trick.....one used in the good old days.....

.From the day that Abacha took power to the day he died on June 8 1998, a period of some five years, the ‘official’ exchange rate of the naira to the dollar never changed from 22 naira to $1. The Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (AFEM) was introduced in 1995 as a way for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sell forex to end users at ‘market’ rates.

But it is one thing to declare that the naira is worth 22 naira to $1. It is quite another thing to be able to satisfy all the people who will demand to buy dollars at that price. Given that oil prices were below $20 a barrel in this period, there was a very limited amount of dollars available (whatever was left after those in charge had helped themselves).

This rigid exchange rate gave birth to a phenomenon that is now a permanent fixture today — the mainstreaming of the forex black market. At one point, the naira was trading as high as 88 naira to $1 while the official rate remained at 22 naira. Bankers came up with they used to call the ‘blended’ rate. Say a client requested $1 million from their bank, the bank would inflate it to say $10 million and then take the request to AFEM knowing that CBN would never approve the full request anyway. Whatever was obtained from CBN was then ‘blended’ with the rest obtained from the black market.

It does not take a genius to know that if the black market rate was four times the official rate, people made an absolute fortune from the arbitrage. A lot of banking fortunes that remain to this day in Nigeria were made in this period. It was sweet business.(Source)

CBN better clamp down.

mohlanforex:
Be Inform, Gtbank Master Card Charge Me 198 To Dollar. Try Gtbank Naira Master Card And Give Us Feedback. I Use It To Fund My Forex And Binary Account.

Stop promoting false info
Even as low as the candy crush payment is
I get charged way above the 167

And I rem still using that same card sometimes October and was charged 230 even when the official rate is 198

anonimi:

Are you really this dumb that you can't wean your programmed self off your nonsensical propaganda Jargons?

Stop acting like a brainless twerp and learn to contribute to the development of your dear Nation

we are not corrupt in Nigeria, and we have never taken bribe before likewise the bank that is corruption in the highest order [color=#770077][/color]

mohlanforex:
Be Inform, Gtbank Master Card Charge Me 198 To Dollar. Try Gtbank Naira Master Card And Give Us Feedback. I Use It To Fund My Forex And Binary Account.

It is a lie, GTB master card charge up to 300 per dollar, that is what i am using to buy online

#NoTo50NairaBankDeduction

I would recommend a free market for both the supply and demand side. Meaning the CBN allows more from the supply side. The CBN can then create a parallel market where they OBSERVE the buying and selling of the dollar. This is different from the CBN actually selling. The sources the banks currently get their dollars from now and the banks actually trade under the observation of the CBN. This will give us the true value of the Naira.

This would also increase the supply side of things and try to balance out the price.

The CBN and the banks need to be more sincere and not think about this in disparate measures as is but it needs to be thorough in thinking of its approach. This trial and error economic measures is killing Nigeria faster than Emefiele can think.

na wa nothing we no go see

CBN knew about that, because last year I experience a extra chargers with my bank and when i complain to my bank they said that is CBN policy .

DoctorTim:


Good afternoon Bro. U seem to know much about this so I'll have to ask you as you seem to be the most enlightened of the lot making comments here.
Please my sister is in Ohio and I'm tryn to pay her school fees though a part of it. About $4000.
What is the best way to get it paid at the CBN rate because I have one million naira for this purpose but if I pay at the BDC rate of 300 then I'll be a lot short of the 4k dollars but if I can get it at 199, I'll be able to even go beyond 4k dollars.
Please I'm new to this cos she's just gone there about 3 weeks ago. How do I get the best deal via a legit means to get this dollar exchanged at a minimal rate and get this fees sorted out?
Thanks and anticipating your response if you've got the time.

Approach your bank, being school fees, it will be processed at CBN rate. You will need the admission letter, NYSC discharge if Postgraduate her passport data page and you will be asked to complete a Form A.

Not so difficult, but banks have policies on who you can pay for e.g some allow only spouse and children while others are less rigid. If the account you're buying from shares surname with the student, there'll be less questions.

@Post,

It has been emphasised here, it is not CBNs money that is used to settle your card transactions, it is what the Bank's sourced on their own and they could have bought at any amount low or high.

Corruption/thievery is more in the banks than the any other institutions. EFCC take note

So where is CBN to shout, all they know is to call a press conference to crucify the BDC operators as if they are the ones fixing the dollar price. as far as i am concerned, CBN Governor is a learner. until he graduates, nigeria economy will still be in God's hand

viktor01:
Sorry about that OP but here in Nigeria, 1USD = 1NAIRA Since our new President assumed power.

Which country did you say you are from again?

Buhari should change the CBN governor because his policies always favors the banks unlike that of Sanusi. On our own part, we should stage a protest, a violent one.

mohlanforex:
Be Inform, Gtbank Master Card Charge Me 198 To Dollar. Try Gtbank Naira Master Card And Give Us Feedback. I Use It To Fund My Forex And Binary Account.

LMFAO bros check ur debit alert wella... GTB charges about 301 to a dollar

mployer:

The banks don't get their fx from cbn, so cbn has no say in their exchange rate.

Really?? Are you serious
Yet the banks pay out at the official rate (about 199 NGN) when you send money to Nigeria by Western Union or Moneygram and then turn around to "sell" the money in settlement of their customers' dollar transactions at 300 NGN or more.
With this practice, I was amused that they (the Banks) were wondering why customers were not rushing to deposit foreign currency in their domiciliary accounts when CBN reversed itself. They did not understand that people are cautious since they government introduced capital controls, because of the fear that one day the government may grab all FX in domiciliary accounts or ban it entirely forcing folks to accept Naira at a rate stipulated by them.
It will be interesting to see the volume of Diaspora remittances for Q1 and Q2 2016.

wealthprod:
i believe this is a topic we nigeria must treat seriously or else the bank are going to be taking us for a ride.
imagine Cbn selling dollar to the bank at the rate of 199 per dollar while bank in return will charge us at the rate of 301 or 300 per dollar when using your debit card to make transaction online

Nigeria let wake up and take this topic seriously because bank are not BDC but institution and they keep milking us this way
The best solution to this is to cry out and let the Cbn know what is happening so that the bank can be sanction for this

You still don't get it! Stop importing and start producing for export!

Demdem:


And what is wrong with the TSA?

Banks that failed to comply with cbn's single TSA directives were fined huge sum of money

leighcon:



@Post,

It has been emphasised here, it is not CBNs money that is used to settle your card transactions, it is what the Bank's sourced on their own and they could have bought at any amount low or high.

So u mean banks buy dollars from the black market and then use the dollars to pay for their customers forex transactions. Okay why then do cbn sell forex to banks?

Bevista:
I am not sure the CBN sells dollars directly to banks arbitrarily.
---
The dollars allocated to DMBs are based on customer requirements which the banks will have to show evidence to the CBN. Such requirements include approved LCs, BTA, Medical bills, school fees, etc. So, all dollars given to banks by CBN already have pre-determined purposes.
---
The bank is most likely sourcing extra dollars from independent & unconventional sources and will transfer this cost to the customer. If they do not do what they are doing now, then you may not even be able to use your cards for international payments because the banks won't have dollars to clear that transaction. Maybe then you will be begging to pay N350.
---
The major problem I see here is when the banks are buying dollars from customers. They pay less than N197 and yet will sell that same dollars to another customer at N285. As long as the huge divergence exist between the official and black market rates, this arbitrage will continue.
---
What the CBN needs to do is to devalue the official rate to anywhere between N230 - N250 and that will narrow the gap between the two markets. That might bring the black market rate to around N240 - N260. Pending that, the banks will continue their roundtripping and there's nothing you can do about it. Have you wondered why the CBN is not saying anything about the matter? Or do you think they are not aware?

And you think the gap between the parallel and official rate can be bridged simply by devaluation. The official market has been chasing the parallel market since the early 80's when $1 was N0.5 and till today is yet to catch up. As long as we export everything we consume and export only crude oil, the gap between the parallel and official markets would be determined by the price of crude oil.

Bevista:
I am not sure the CBN sells dollars directly to banks arbitrarily.
---
The dollars allocated to DMBs are based on customer requirements which the banks will have to show evidence to the CBN. Such requirements include approved LCs, BTA, Medical bills, school fees, etc. So, all dollars given to banks by CBN already have pre-determined purposes.
---
The bank is most likely sourcing extra dollars from independent & unconventional sources and will transfer this cost to the customer. If they do not do what they are doing now, then you may not even be able to use your cards for international payments because the banks won't have dollars to clear that transaction. Maybe then you will be begging to pay N350.
---
The major problem I see here is when the banks are buying dollars from customers. They pay less than N197 and yet will sell that same dollars to another customer at N285. As long as the huge divergence exist between the official and black market rates, this arbitrage will continue.
---
What the CBN needs to do is to devalue the official rate to anywhere between N230 - N250 and that will narrow the gap between the two markets. That might bring the black market rate to around N240 - N260. Pending that, the banks will continue their roundtripping and there's nothing you can do about it. Have you wondered why the CBN is not saying anything about the matter? Or do you think they are not aware?

Bros you go school complete. ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE RECEIVED BY YOU

wirinet:
And you think the gap between the parallel and official rate can be bridged simply by devaluation. The official market has been chasing the parallel market since the early 80's when $1 was N0.5 and till today is yet to catch up. As long as we export everything we consume and export only crude oil, the gap between the parallel and official markets would be determined by the price of crude oil.

I said "narrow". You can take that to mean anything you want. There was a time, during, Soludo when the difference between the official and parallel exchange rate was less than N2.
---
Devaluation does not solve the fundamental economic problem of import dependency, but it will prevent a bad situation from getting worse.

Greene66:
A partner of mine made a payment with a Nigerian bank DOLLAR card(not naira) on a NAIRA website and the rate was 185.. Thieves

@Bevista said the banks buys at higher rate, can i assume it's N185 quoted by @Greene66. To the best of my knowledge the banks never buys above the CBN rates.

Just imagine;
Profit when banks buy in exchange = N199-N185 = N14
Profit when banks sell in exchange = N300 - N199 = N101

This is daylight robbery, and we should all resist this if we can...... protest is one way.

those banks are theives.

when i receive payment they buy at 199 but when am making payment it is 305

DoctorTim:
Good afternoon Bro. U seem to know much about this so I'll have to ask you as you seem to be the most enlightened of the lot making comments here.
Please my sister is in Ohio and I'm tryn to pay her school fees though a part of it. About $4000.
What is the best way to get it paid at the CBN rate because I have one million naira for this purpose but if I pay at the BDC rate of 300 then I'll be a lot short of the 4k dollars but if I can get it at 199, I'll be able to even go beyond 4k dollars.
Please I'm new to this cos she's just gone there about 3 weeks ago. How do I get the best deal via a legit means to get this dollar exchanged at a minimal rate and get this fees sorted out?
Thanks and anticipating your response if you've got the time.

You will need to visit your bank and tell them that you need dollars to pay school fees for your sister overseas. They might ask you for some school documentation as proof. Once they are OK, they'll give you a form to fill and will charge you the official exchange rate of ~N199/$. They will still need to take your form to CBN for approval. Once approved, you are home and dry. Failing that, you might have source dollars elsewhere for that payment.

doplove:
@Bevista said the banks buys at higher rate, can i assume it's N185 quoted by @Greene66. To the best of my knowledge the banks never buys above the CBN rates.

Just imagine;
Profit when banks buy in exchange = N199-N185 = N14
Profit when banks sell in exchange = N300 - N199 = N101

This is daylight robbery, and we should all resist this if we can...... protest is one way.

A total potential profit of N115/$. Ridiculous!

bubbleforth:
Does this mean that they would sell to those who go for at the official rate?

Yes boss!

Bevista:
I said "narrow". You can take that to mean anything you want. There was a time, during, Soludo when the difference between the official and parallel exchange rate was less than N2.
---
Devaluation does not solve the fundamental economic problem of import dependency, but it will prevent a bad situation from getting worse.

I say it is not as simple as that. During soludo time what was the average price of crude? what was our import bill? what was our expenditure (especially recurrent). During soludo, the OBJ government was able to pay our debt to the paris club, meet the dollar demands of Nigeria at the bi-weekly dollar dutch auction sales and save enough money in our foreign reserve and sovereign wealth fund. He even had the luxury of hosting two expensive world events - Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Heads of Governments. So because the OBJ government was relatively "prudent", soludo had enough dollars to bridge the gap between the parallel and official markets.

But now the situation has reversed. Crude is selling at $27 per barrel, our taste for imported products has skyrocketed, our recurrent expenditure has ballooned, and there are loan obligations to pay. Dont forget that corruption within the government agencies has also risen. So where do you want Emefiele to get the dollars to bridge the Gap between the markets?

grandstar:


The answer is a devaluation at the official rate.

The government has refused to devalue and that is what is causing the excess demand of 1.5bn a week.

Soludo and Sanusi have both condemned the doillar reestrictions. That was why JP Morgan delisted Nigeria.

The economy is in the hands of economics amateurs

Please explain logically. What will make BDCs,banks and co sell lower when CBN devalues to like 250naira per $? What stops them from selling at 350?

mohlanforex:
Be Inform, Gtbank Master Card Charge Me 198 To Dollar. Try Gtbank Naira Master Card And Give Us Feedback. I Use It To Fund My Forex And Binary Account.

You're a thief.

These banks are just having a field day.