TheCable

The Central Bank of Nigeria has approved the application for an operational license for the Development Bank of Nigeria to enable the bank begin operations.

A letter, which was signed by Okwu Nnanna, CBN’s deputy governor (financial system stability), and addressed to the managing director/chief executive officer of the DBN, made known the approval.

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, confirmed the approval of the bank adding that the approval was subject to meeting the minimum capital requirement of N100 billion as well as the reconstitution of the board of the bank and reviewing its organogram.

The DBN was conceived in 2014 but its take off was delayed by fears that it would lead to the scrapping of the Bank of Industry.

The bank would have access to about N396.5bn, which has been jointly provided by the World bank, German Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency.

In a statement earlier released, the ministry of finance had assured that the operations of the development bank would not eliminate the other existing development finance institutions in the country.

“The operations of the DBN is clearly distinct from other development banks as it is focused on supporting small businesses defined by size and not by sectors.

“The DBN, will provide loans to all sectors of the economy including, manufacturing, services and other industries not currently served by existing development banks thereby filling an important gap in the provision of finance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.”