Zenith Bank discontinues naira ATM cards' use for foreign transactions

 Zenith Bank has joined the group of Nigerian financial institutions that have stopped accepting overseas payments made with naira cards.

From January 9th, 2023, customers of Zenith Bank won't be allowed to use their naira Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards to conduct any foreign transactions.

This notification from GTBank, which went into effect on January 1st, came just a week ago.

Due to the announcement, many Nigerians who shop online from foreign retailers like Amazon and Apple Music among others would now be unable to use their naira cards to make purchases.

With Zenith Bank's declaration, there are now 4 banks, including First Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, who have halted overseas transactions on naira cards.

Warning to clients: In a notification sent to its clients on Thursday, Zenith Bank stated:

Please be aware that as of January 9th, 2023, you will not be able to use your Zenith Bank Naira cards for international ATM cash withdrawals, POS transactions, or web transactions. "If you have international spending needs, just stop by any of our branches and ask for a foreign currency debit or prepaid card, which are available in US Dollars, Pounds, and euros variants.

Suspension after reduction: The majority of Nigerian banks set a $20 spending cap on international transactions made with naira debit cards in March of last year. This was due to a persistent lack of foreign currency and the severe capital outflow regulations of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

International transactions on Standard Chartered Bank's naira visa debit card have been halted, the bank announced in July.

First Bank also informed in September that as of September 30 both its prepaid visa naira card and its virtual Mastercard naira card will no longer be accepting foreign transactions.

You will no longer be able to use the Naira Mastercard, Naira Credit Card, our Virtual card, and Visa Prepaid Naira card for international transactions due to current foreign exchange market realities. First Bank informed its customers in a statement that this will start on September 30, 2022.

Other financial companies, including Flutterwave and Eversend, had also stopped offering virtual card services for cross-border transactions.