BY Mayowa Tijani
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned nine deposit money banks (DMBs) from the foreign exchange market, for hiding over $2 billion belonging to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
According to Channels TV, President Muhammadu Buhari has been briefed on the breach by the banks, and all nine had been mandated to move the monies to the treasury single account.
At the full implementation of the TSA in 2015, the CBN had warned that banks that did not totally comply with the TSA remission plan faced possible fine and stringent punishment.
While unveiling the guidelines for foreign exchange trading in June, the CBN reiterated the need for banks to comply or face suspension from the forex market.
“The CBN may take action against any FXPD that fails to comply with the standards set forth in these Guidelines. Such action will vary depending upon the type of non-compliance, but may range, for instance, from fines, suspension from any or all FX operations for a period of time to termination as an FXPD,” it said.
In October 2016, the CBN fined two leading banks for the same offence repeated in 2016, leading to the payment of over N4 billion to the apex bank.
This time around, all the banks involved are barred from the forex market until they fully refund the $2.1 billion held up in their coffers.
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