Banks ask customers to fund accounts for travel, school fees allowances

Nigerian deposit money banks have asked their customers to fund their accounts adequately for new and pending requests to access foreign exchange (FX) for legitimate needs.

Such legitimate needs include Form A applications for business Travel Allowance (BTA), Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), school fees, and medical fees, and Form Q for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Access Bank and Fidelity Bank have in a notice to their customers said all applications will continue to be processed through the banks, and that the naira to foreign currency exchange rate is no longer fixed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The rate is determined by the prevailing foreign exchange market rate at the point of foreign exchange purchase guided by Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

“The above will affect all new and pending Form A and Form Q applications. We kindly request that you adequately fund your account to accommodate the naira equivalent of your foreign currency needs,” Access Bank said in a notice to their customers.

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Fidelity Bank said the same applies to payment for letters of credit, bills for collection and other invisible trade transactions.

“Applicable exchange rate will be market-determined at the time of processing. All eligible request will be treated subject to FX availability,” Fidelity Bank said.

The CBN last week, Wednesday collapsed all segments of foreign exchange markets into the I&E forex window, re-introducing the “Willing Buyer, Willing Seller” model.

In a circular signed by Angela Sere-Ejembi, CBN.s director of financial markets, the CBN said operations in this window shall be guided by the extant circular on the establishment of the window, dated April 21, 2017 and referenced FMD/DIR/CIR/GEN/08/007, adding that all eligible transactions are permitted to access foreign exchange at this window.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.