Wema Bank has announced the availability of foreign exchange (FX) for personal transactions under the newly launched Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS).
The bank stated this in an email update sent to customers titled; ‘Important update: EFEMS funds for invisible transactions are now available.
Wema Bank explained that the EFEM provides customers access to FX for Tuition Fees, Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), Business Travel Allowance (BTA), medical expenses, and other personal transactions under Form A.
The bank also listed various requirements for customers looking to buy dollars from the official market which include:
Wema Bank also stated that all new and existing FX requests must meet these updated conditions before processing can proceed.
The statement added:
There are advantages to buying from the official market due to the lower exchange rate compared to the parallel market.
The naira against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) sells at N1,510/$1.
While the pound sterling and the euro in the spot market closed at N1,872.10/£1 and N1,559.96/€1, respectively.
While in the black market naira is valued against the US Dollar at N1,570/$1.
EFEMS is a platform introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to facilitate foreign exchange (FX) transactions in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).
EFEMS aims to enhance transparency and governance in FX trading.
According to CBN, the EFEMS provides real-time pricing and visibility of buy and sell orders, automating the matching of orders to ensure transactions occur at the most competitive prices available.
EFEM reduces the risk of price manipulation and market distortions while curbing speculative trading and mitigating volatility.
BusinessDay reports that before EFEMS was introduced, Nigeria’s foreign exchange market depended on manual or semi-automated trading and was prone to inefficiencies and manipulation.
This has changed as EFEM centralises transactions on a single platform, ensuring real-time visibility and efficient processing.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that Nigerian importers are set to pay more to clear their goods as the CBN introduced a new customs rate to clear goods.
The new rates reflect the performance of the naira in both the official and unofficial markets.
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has urged the federal government to peg the customs duty exchange rate to N1,000 per dollar.
