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March 15, 2023.
Azonuchechi Chukwu.
Nigerian Banks Slash Personal Travel Allowance, Reduce Foreign School Fees Over Dollar Scarcity.
Naija247news reports that banks announced the new development in emails recently sent to their customers.
Nigerian banks have reduced the request time for school fees and travel allowance The banks also reduced Business Travel Allowance and Personal Travel Allowance
Access Bank and First Bank are some of the first banks to implement the new restrictions because of dollar scarcity.
Form A is an application form designed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay for service transactions (invisible trade) like foreign tuition, training courses and medical bills.
Through this form, Nigerians who are studying abroad can access FX at the official rate rather than sourcing from the parallel market which is always significantly higher.
The process usually takes two to three weeks — depending on the application period. Furthermore, the banks have also cut the amount of dollars for personal travel allowance (PTA) and business travel allowance (BTA) to a maximum of twice annually per applicant to the tune of $2,000 per application.
Access bank email reads :
“We value your relationship with us and would like to keep you informed on updates regarding our fulfillment of Form A request. PTA / BTA requests are now processed a maximum of twice annually per applicant to the tune of $2,000 per application where the request is within 14 days of the travel date.
“International school fees and upkeep requests are processed within 120 days from the date of approval. All applications are processed and disbursed subject to FX availability, proper documentation, and provided the account to be debited is sufficiently funded to cover the Form A charge and other processing fees.
“Kindly ensure your account is sufficiently funded to accommodate the value of the transaction and charges at the time of processing as any request not backed with an adequately funded account or the required documentation will be rejected and considered a new request upon re-submission. Updates on pending, approved or rejected Form A requests are duly posted and accessible on the Trade Monitoring System portal.”
Also, First Bank Plc told its customers that requests for foreign exchange would continue to be treated on a first come, first served basis, subject to availability of FX.
“Payment of school fees for the current session must be made through FirstBank for Upkeep to be processed.
“Application for Form A for (School fees, Student Upkeep, and PTA/BTA) must be processed on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Trade Monitoring System (TRMS) Platform. It must be in line with Regulatory Requirements.”. (www.naija247news.com).
