7 Nigerian banks pay over ₦1 Billion as penalties for financial infractions

Seven Deposit Money Banks parted with a total of ₦1,088,334,000 in 2022 as penalties for several infringements to financial regulatory authorities.

Financial regulators like the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Insurance Commission (NIC), (National Pension Commission (NPC) and others issued the fines.

This was seen via the defaulting companies’ financial statements for the year 2022 which further revealed that some other infractions committed by the banks include; late rendition of monthly returns, late rendition of daily returns, publication of unapproved adverts, and unethical conduct, among others.

The affected financial institutions include; Access Holdings Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Holding Company, FCMB Group Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, and Stanbic IBTC Holdings.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings paid a total of ₦159 million during the period in review (2022) as fines across some of its businesses.

The financial arm of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Bank paid fines worth ₦54.850 million to the CBN.

SEC also slammed a fine of ₦500,161.25 on Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited.

Another arm of Stanbic Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Trustees Limited earned a penalty of ₦8.2 million while Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited earned a fine of ₦69 million.

Stanbic IBTC Group also bagged a ₦10 million fine for a sanctioned advert while its insurance arm, Stanbic IBTC Insurance Brokers Limited earned a ₦15,2 million fine from NIC.

Guaranty Trust CO Limited during the year in review, paid fines totalling ₦128.6 Million for Risk Asset Examination, Anti Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism Examination.

GTO Ghana during the same period, paid fines totalling ₦10.2 Million for inaccurate submission of forex end-day transaction returns among others.

The bank parted with ₦4.05 million as fines in the United Kingdom, ₦11.25 million to Kenyan regulators while it paid ₦180,000 as fines in Tanzania.

Fidelity Bank Plc parted with a total fine of ₦100.71 million as fine for offences relating to cryptocurrency trading.

The FCMB Group paid ₦70.3 million fine for unethical conduct while Union Bank paid fines of ₦20 million to the CBN.