Workers in the operations department of some commercial banks have confirmed that some wealthy individuals and organisations with huge cash stashed away have begun depositing them.

This is coming days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the redesign of the N1,000, N500 and N200 notes.

The CBN had given a directive that the current notes be remitted to the commercial banks.

In the light of this, there is a gradual increase in the volume of cash and amounts being remitted by customers.

A top banker with one of the first generation banks, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there has been a gradual increase in the sums of money being deposited by some customers.

“We have seen an increase in the amount being brought to some of our branches by some customers,” the source said.

When asked the highest amount an individual had remitted so far, the source, who heads a branch of the bank in Oshodi, Lagos, said, “The amounts vary, but we have seen people bring between N5m and N20m cash.

“It’s only rich customers that can have huge sums stashed away. The poor live on daily income and can hardly have enough to save.”

In the same vein, a senior staff at the headquarters of another first generation bank noted that feedback from some of their branches indicated that some customers moved in billions, some in millions and some in hundreds of thousands.

“From what the CBN governor said in his briefing, he said about 85 per cent of the cash in circulation was outside the bank vaults and that alone is over N2tn, which shows that we might even see more billions being brought to the banks for remittance in the coming days,” the source revealed.

The Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, had announced the issuance of the new naira notes on October 26.

During the briefing, he advised bank customers to start paying their current notes to enable them to withdraw the new bank notes once circulation begins on December 15, 2022.

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