CBN bars 9 banks from forex market over non-remittance of NNPC funds
Wed Aug 24, 2016 11:57:am Finance
3.8K By Buchi Obichie
Nine Deposit Money Banks were on Tuesday barred from the nation's foreign exchange market, by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
This came as a result of the banks' failure to remit the sum of $2.334bn belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to the Treasury Single Account.
The affected banks are: First Bank of Nigeria Limited ($469m); Diamond Bank Plc ($287m); Sterling Bank Plc ($269m); Skye Bank Plc ($221m); Fidelity Bank ($209m); United Bank for Africa ($530m); Keystone Bank ($139); First City Monument Bank (FCMB) $125m; and Heritage Bank ($85m).
According to CBN officials, the sanction would remain until the DMBs could remit the funds to the CBN.
The officials also revealed that even after the DMBs remitted the funds in full, they would still be subject to further disciplinary actions.
However, the Head, Corporate Communications, UBA, Mr. Charles Aigbe, said the bank was not among the banks sanctioned by the CBN.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Aigbe said, "Our attention has been drawn to report of the ban of UBA from the foreign exchange market by the CBN over the non-remittance of the NNPC/NLNG dollar deposits.
"We wish to state very categorically that UBA has completely remitted all the NNPC/NLNG dollar deposits. We thank all our numerous customers, business partners and other. stakeholders who have reached out to us on account of this report."
President Muhammadu Buhari had last September ordered all the DMBs in the country to remit all Federal Government funds to the TSA.
This came as a result of the banks' failure to remit the sum of $2.334bn belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to the Treasury Single Account.
The affected banks are: First Bank of Nigeria Limited ($469m); Diamond Bank Plc ($287m); Sterling Bank Plc ($269m); Skye Bank Plc ($221m); Fidelity Bank ($209m); United Bank for Africa ($530m); Keystone Bank ($139); First City Monument Bank (FCMB) $125m; and Heritage Bank ($85m).
According to CBN officials, the sanction would remain until the DMBs could remit the funds to the CBN.
The officials also revealed that even after the DMBs remitted the funds in full, they would still be subject to further disciplinary actions.
However, the Head, Corporate Communications, UBA, Mr. Charles Aigbe, said the bank was not among the banks sanctioned by the CBN.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Aigbe said, "Our attention has been drawn to report of the ban of UBA from the foreign exchange market by the CBN over the non-remittance of the NNPC/NLNG dollar deposits.
"We wish to state very categorically that UBA has completely remitted all the NNPC/NLNG dollar deposits. We thank all our numerous customers, business partners and other. stakeholders who have reached out to us on account of this report."
President Muhammadu Buhari had last September ordered all the DMBs in the country to remit all Federal Government funds to the TSA.
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