The Central Bank of Nigeria has wielded the big stick against some 13 banks, for not maintaining the required cash reserve of 27.5 per cent. Cumulatively, the affected banks were debited the sum of N356.1bn, as a bitter lesson for failure to maintain the statutory minimum cash balance.
The new debit punch happened last Friday, January 4, 2022, according to a confidential report and has left many in the banking sector with great anxiety.
Available data shows that Zenith bank and one of of the newest banks in Nigeria were the hardest hit while Fidelity Bank was the least debited by the CBN.
Zenith and a new generation bank were debited N170 billion. FCMB got punished with N39 billion, First Bank saw N27 billion removed from its account, GT Bank N20 billion while Citibank had N12 billion removed by the CBN.
Also, Stanbic IBTC, Union Bank and Polaris banks were debited N10 billion respectively while Keystone was penalised with N6 billion, Ecobank N5 billion, sterling Bank, N3.6 billion and Fidelity and Nova Merchant banks were debited N2 billion each.
The CBN took a similar action last December when it hit defaulting banks with a cumulative debit of N175bn fine, for failing to meet up with stipulated requirements.
It subsequently issued a stern warning to banks not to starve Nigerians of funds especially during the festive periods. The banks flouted the order resulting in their being heavily penalized.