CBN-Office-AbujaCentral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not happy with nine commercial banks in Nigeria over none remittance of the sum of $2.12 billion from the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) into government coffer.
The banks, which have consequently banned from participating in Forex market transactions are United Bank for Africa (UBA) $530m; First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) $469m; Diamond Bank Plc ($287m); Sterling Bank Plc ($269m); Sky Bank Plc ($221m); Fidelity Bank ($209m); Keystone Bank ($139); First City Monument Bank (FCMB) $125m; and Heritage Bank ($85m).
They are however allow to return to NGR FX market operations once they fully pay-up NNPC earning into Treasury Single Account (TSA) domiciled in the CBN as directed by the presidency last year.
A top Central Bank source said that President Muhammadu Buhari has already been briefed on the matter and the sanctions to be imposed on the defaulting banks. The nine banks comprise of three tier-one lenders and another six tier-two deposit money banks.
The Treasury Single Account of the government was established in August 2015, with the government saying it would help check leakages in the system.
The apex bank’s decision to bar the banks comes two months after it released the highlights of the much awaited flexible foreign exchange market policy.
The highlights, which are key notes and agreements reached by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), were released on Wednesday, weeks after the Monetary Policy Committee announced the introduction of the policy.
After its meeting of May 24, the CBN said the policy would allow the bank retain a small portion of foreign exchange for critical transactions. [myad]
