The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned the GTBank and others from participating in the weekly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) wholesale spot and forward intervention with effect from today, Tuesday, May 2.
The apex bank took the drastic measure in swift reaction to reports that the erring deposit money banks (DMBs) have deliberately frustrated efforts by SMEs to access forex from the new window.
The ban, it was gathered, also came as a follow up to the field reports, which revealed that only eight banks had sold forex to the SMEs segment since the inception of the new window.
CBN is believed to have frowned at the action of the banks which refused to sell foreign exchange to SMEs to enable them import eligible finished and semi-finished items despite the availability of forex from the CBN Wholesale intervention window.
Acting Director of the Corporate Communications of the apex bank, Isaac Okorafor, confirmed the development.
The CBN spokesman listed the banks that survived the ban to include Access Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank, Heritage Bank, Jaiz Bank, Sterling Bank, Unity Bank and Zenith Bank.
He warned that CBN would not sit back and allow any form of instability in the interbank forex market through the actions of institutions or individuals.
He, however, disclosed that the action will be lifted immediately any of the affected banks show evidence of significant utilization of the fund allocated to them under the SME window.
As an incentive, Okorafor said that banks that have utilized their SME funds were allocated all of the $100 million sold at the Tuesday’s wholesale auction.
He called all stakeholders to play by the rules for the benefit of the entire country and its economy.
Meanwhile, the CBN continued its massive intervention in the foreign exchange segment of the financial market by injecting a total of $196.2 million into the various segments of the Forex market on Tuesday. [myad]
