Access, First Bank Others Begin PTA/BTA Disbursement with Dollar Cards

Nume Ekeghe

Access Bank, FirsBank have informed their customers that effective immediately, Personal Travel Allowances (PTA), Business Travel Allowances (BTA), and other foreign exchange purchases would only be disbursed via a dollar travel card.

Apart from the two banks that made a formal announcement to their customers, other banks had silently commenced card disbursement for customers who already had existing travel cards without making a declaration.

This is all in a bid to reduce the demand for cash and check customers who capitalise on the arbitrage.

FirstBank in a statement to its customers stated, “The full Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and Business Travel Allowance (BTA) of $4,000 and $5,000 respectively will now be disbursed into your FirstBank Travel Card. All applications will be in line with Regulatory Requirements.

“Kindly ensure that all PTA/BTA applications along with the approved Form A are submitted at the branch exactly 14 days before your proposed travel date. Sales is limited to two quarters a year.”

Access Bank in a statement to its customers stated, “We would like to once again inform you that we disburse authorised personal and business travel allowance FX requests through our Access Travel Debit Card. The Access Travel Debit Card has been created to enable you to transact seamlessly when you travel abroad.”

It added with this process, customers can get instant issuance for PTA/BTA requests, easy access to international transactions via online, POS, and ATM and that the card is valid for 3 years and is usable for current and future PTA/BTA requests during its validity.”