The Central Bank of Nigeria has deducted a total of N499,175,535,097 from the accounts of 12 banks under its supervision, over their failure to meet the September 30, 2019 deadline it had stipulated for them to maintain 60 percent loan-to-deposit (LDR) ratio.
The banks are Citibank, FirstBank of Nigeria, FBNQuest Merchant, First City Monument Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Jaiz Bank, Keystone Bank, and Rand Merchant Bank.
Others are Standard Chartered Bank, Suntrust, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank.
THISDAY reports that the respective accounts of the affected banks at the central bank have already been debited.
A breakdown of the sum showed that while Zenith Bank was debited N135.629 billion; Citibank was debited a total of N100.743 billion; United Bank for Africa – N99.676 billion; FirstBank –N74.669 billion; Standard Chartered Bank – N30.027 billion and GTBank – N25.148 billion and FBNQuest – N2.697 billion.
Similarly, while FCMB’s account with the central bank was debited N14.371 billion; Jaiz Bank – N7.525; Keystone Bank – N4.163 billion; Rand – N2.823 billion, and Suntrust – N1.703 billion.
The central bank had on Tuesday raised the minimum LDR to 65 percent.
It had in the circular on the directive in July, stated that, “Failure to meet the above minimum LDR by the specified date shall result in a levy of additional Cash Reserve Requirement equal to 50 percent of the lending shortfall of the target LDR.
“The CBN shall continue to review development in the market with a view to facilitating greater investment in the real sector of the Nigerian economy.”
