Banks to stop accepting old £20, £50 notes Dec 31

Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria have disclosed that December 31, 2021 is the deadline for the acceptance of old £20 and £50 notes to enable proper conclusion of cash evacuation.

Fidelity Bank Plc, in an email to its customers on Wednesday titled ‘Withdrawal of old 20 and 50 GBP notes from circulation’.

According to it, “The Bank of England has announced the withdrawal of paper £20 and £50 notes after September 30, 2022. A year’s notice has been provided to customers and the global banking community.

“In view of this, Fidelity Bank, alongside other Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria, has issued a deadline of December 31, 2021 for acceptance of the stated denominations from the public to enable proper conclusion of cash evacuation.

“Thus, we advise you to use or deposit your paper GBP notes into your Fidelity Bank domiciliary account by December 31, 2021 to avoid a loss in the value of your money.”

Meanwhile, this medium earlier reported that in order to ensure that more Nigerians use the country’s newly launched digital currency eNaira, there were signs that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), would soon roll out a phone application for people without bank accounts.

The Chief Executive Officer of Bitt Inc., Brian Popelka confirmed this on phone in an interview with CoinDesk.

He said the present version of the eNaira app could only be used by people with bank accounts.

Bitt Inc. is the Central Bank of Nigeria’s technical partner for the digital currency, eNaira.

Prime Business Africa had earlier reported that  Nigerians without Internet-enabled or Android phones will still make transactions on the eNaira platform.

The apex bank disclosed this in a document titled ‘Design paper for the eNaira’. According to the apex bank, eNaira was developed based on simplicity and ease of use to ensure that Nigerians without internet-enabled phones can access the service.

It explained that the approach would not further alienate sections of the population who are uneducated, lack exposure and access to internet services or digital devices.