Over 18 Deposit Money Banks and discount
houses operating in the country will publish the names of at least 1600
customers whose loans have become non-performing this week, findings by
our correspondents have shown.
This follows the expiration of the July
31, 2015 deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria for banks and
discount houses to publish the names of debtor-companies, their
subsidiaries and directors in national newspapers.
The CBN had on April 22 directed the
financial institutions to commence the publication of the names of their
delinquent debtors from August 1.
Banks and discount houses are to publish
the list of the delinquent debtors in at least three national
newspapers on a quarterly basis.
In line with the directive, banks gave chronic debtors a three-month ‘grace’ period, which expired on
July 31.
Our correspondent learnt on Saturday
that the number of delinquent debtors on the lists under preparation by
over 18 banks and discount houses operating in the country range from
100 to over 300 names for each bank.
The chief executive officer of a bank,
who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
matter, said at least over 1,600 names of delinquents were expected to
be published by all the banks during the exercise.
“Going by what we can see across the
industry, at least 1600 names are expected to be published by all the
deposit money banks and a few discount houses,” the bank CEO said.
Officials of financial institutions
confirmed to our correspondents on Saturday that they would publish the
names of the delinquent debtors this week in compliance with the CBN
directive.
The spokesperson for First Bank of
Nigeria Limited, Mr. Babatunde Lasaki, told one of our correspondents
that the tier-1 bank would comply with the central bank’s directive by
publishing the names of the debtors during the week.
“We will comply. We will publish the names this week; any time from Tuesday,” he said.
Also, the Head, Corporate
Communications, Diamond Bank Plc, Mr. Mike Omeife, confirmed that the
lender would comply with CBN’s directive, saying “we will publish this
week.”
Similarly, the spokesperson for Skye
Bank Plc, Mr. Rasheed Bolarinwa, said the bank would publish the names
in line with the CBN’s directive but he declined to give the specific
date.
Top bank officials said chief executives were busy fine tuning the list.
“We are fine-tuning the list. As of
Friday, some customers were still coming to pay while a few others came
to renegotiate. Over this weekend, we are drawing this final list which
will be published on Tuesday,” the executive of a tier-2 bank told one
of our correspondents on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the CBN on Saturday ruled out
possible deadline extension on its directive to banks to publish the
names of the debtors.
The Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr. Ibrahim Mu’azu, said there was no extension to the deadline.
As of last week, debtors were rushing to banks to renegotiate their loans.
The CBN had in a circular dated April
22, 2015 gave the July 31 deadline, saying the decision was necessary in
order forestall the spate of non-performing loans in the sector.
The CBN also warned banks against being used as conduit for the transfer of illicit funds and money laundering activities.
The bank in a statement issued at about
9:06pm on Saturday night by Mu’azu said the warning became imperative
owing to a recent report by the Global Financial Integrity Group which
ranks Nigeria as one of the 10 largest countries for illicit funds flows
in the world.
The group in the report estimated that
about $15.7bn (N3.09trn) of illicit fund goes through the nation’s
banking system annually.
But the CBN in the statement said
although it had not done an independent assessment of the assertion of
the group, it stated that the bank would step up vigilance in order to
ensure that Nigerian banks are not used as conduit for illicit funds
flow, especially in foreign currency.
Source: The Punch