The Central Bank of Nigeria has assured members of the public that it will not convert the foreign exchange in the domiciliary accounts of customers into naira, as falsely purported on social media.

A circulation purportedly issued by the CBN claimed that the regulator had directed deposit money banks and international money transfer operators to convert domiciliary account holdings into naira.

In a circular issued on Saturday, the CBN said it would never contemplate such a line of action, adding that the speculation was completely false and aimed at triggering panic in the foreign exchange market.

The circular titled, ‘CBN categorically denies and strongly condemns peddlers of rumour on domiciliary account holdings.’ was signed by the Director of Corporate Communication, Osita Nwanisobi.

It read in part, “We wish to reiterate that the bank has not contemplated, and will never contemplate any such line of action.

“The speculation is a completely false narrative aimed at triggering panic in the foreign exchange market.”

It added, “Operators of domiciliary accounts and other members of the banking public are therefore advised to completely disregard these fictitious documents and malicious rumours and go about their legitimate foreign exchange transactions, as we have no doubt that these rumours are only aimed at impugning the integrity of the Central Bank of Nigeria and activating chaos in the system.”

It added that the public should note that any circular issued by the CBN was posted on its website (www.cbn.gov.ng) for the attention of the general public.

The CBN stated that it had drawn the attention of appropriate authorities to the development and the culprits would be sanctioned accordingly.

Punch