CBN to suspend forex dealership licence of erring banks

Central Bank of Nigeria has in its Monetary and Trade Policy document said that in accordance with the provisions of BOFIA 1991 (as amended), banks are required, subject to the written approval of the CBN, to publish not later than four months after the end of each financial year, their audited financial statements in a national daily newspaper printed and circulated in Nigeria. It said that to facilitate the implementation of consolidated supervision, all banks, discount houses and their subsidiaries shall continue to adopt December 31, as their accounting year end. 

According to the policy document “The CBN shall continue to hold the Board Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of a defaulting bank directly responsible for any breach and impose appropriate sanctions which may include the following: barring the MD or his/her nominee from participation in the Bankers’ Committee and disclosing the reason for such suspension; suspension of the foreign exchange dealership license of the bank and its name sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (in the case of a public quoted company); and removal of the Chairman and MD from office if the accounts remain unpublished for twelve  months after the end of the bank’s financial year.”

The policy document for 2018/2019 said that “in recognition of the importance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to the development and transformation of the economy, the CBN shall continue to encourage and collaborate with other stakeholders to advance initiatives that would enable the development of SMEs in the 2018/2019 fiscal years. To this end, the Bank would consolidate on the gains of the MSME Development Fund (MSMEDF) and National Collateral Registry as established by the Secured Transactions in Moveable Assets Act, 2017 which has aided access and deepened financial inclusion through the facilitation of the use of movable collaterals for either business or consumer credit”. 

It said that “in addition, the Bank has developed modalities for non-interest windows in all its development finance initiatives to enhance financial inclusiveness. The core initiatives targeted at the development of MSMEs include: Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF) that was established to unlock the potential of the real sector as well as engender output growth, value added productivity and job creation. The facility supports large enterprises with financing needs from N500.00 million but subject to a maximum of N10.00 billion at an all-inclusive interest rate of 9.00 per cent per annum. The real sector activities targeted by the facility are manufacturing, agricultural value chain and selected service sub- sectors. The CBN shall sustain the scheme in the 2018/2019 fiscal years.”