CBN fines 4 banks N576m for deposit misclassifaction

isaac

June 22, 2015 5:11 PM

For failing to remit money to the Central Bank of Nigeria, four commercial banks have been fined a whopping N576m by the apex bank.

Central Bank of Nigeria

The apex bank in the country, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has slammed a N576 million fine on four deposit money banks, Skye Bank, Access Bank, Sterling Bank and Zenith Bank, for misclassifying some public sector deposits and not remitting what they should as cash reserve requirement in 2014.

The CBN had, in the first quarter of 2014, increased cash reserve requirement for public sector deposits from 50 per cent to 75 per cent in an effort to manage the pressures on the naira and the country’s external reserve.

This caused a liquidity crunch in the market taking out an additional N800 billion from the financial system.

Skye Bank paid the largest fine of N323 million, followed by Access Bank which paid N174 million while Sterling and Zenith a Banks paid N50 million and N32 million respectively.

In 2014, Skye bank recorded a deposit base of N952.3 billion and a profit before tax of N10.47 billion.

isaac