The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pardoned eight banks it had earlier barred from taking part in Foreign Exchange Market for violating some financial regulations.
The Director, Banking Supervision of the CBN, Tokunbo Martins, who announced the re-instatement of the bank at a news briefing on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the decision was reached after a series of meetings with the body of bank Chief Executive Officers and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.
Martins said: “Well, we have had engagements with the body of CEOs and they have been interacting amongst themselves and I am happy to tell you today that the banks that were hitherto banned have been released from the ban.
“And the reason is because all of the banks after discussions and engagements under the auspices of the body of CEOs and the CIBN have all submitted credible repayment plans which we the CBN found acceptable.
“So as a result of that, all those banks have been re-instated in the foreign exchange market.”
The CIBN President, Professor Segun Ajibola, said that the institute was very much interested in what was happening among all the industry players.
Ajibola said that under the aegis of the institute, the body of bank CEOs is now a formidable platform to look at issues that are pertinent to the industry and the economy, to ensure that stakeholders’ interest is protected.
“We will protect the interests of all our stakeholders and especially the bigger picture, which is Nigeria and its economy as a whole. So it is a happy development and I believe this will further help to strengthen our system and our economy.”
The Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, said that the body of bank CEOs under the under the auspices of the CIBN, aims to get banks to work together.
Wigwe said that this would ensure that anytime there is a serious issue in the market, bank CEOs would meet to look for a way to resolve them.
According to earlier report, the CBN had on Tuesday, banned nine Deposit Money Banks from the nation’s foreign exchange market for failing to remit $2.3 billion belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to the Treasury Single Account.
On Thursday last week, the CBN re-admitted the United Bank for Africa Plc, saying that it had remitted all outstanding NNPC/NLNG deposits in its possession to NNPC’s TSA at the CBN. [myad]
