After a week of their suspension from the foreign exchange market, the 8 affected banks have been reinstated by the CBN. The CBN Director, Banking Supervision Department, Tokunbo Martins, announced the reinstatement of the banks, after a meeting between chief executive officers of the affected banks and the Committee of Governors of the CBN.
However, the reinstatement occurred after the banks agreed to a repayment plan to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) deposits in their possession that they failed to deposit to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
“We have had engagements with the body of CEOs over a number of banks suspended from participation in foreign exchange market. I’m happy to say the ban has been lifted on the banks. As a result, all those banks have been reinstated into foreign exchange market,” Mrs. Martins said.
The banks now reinstated are First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), Diamond Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank, Keystone Bank, First City Monument Bank {FCMB} and Heritage Bank.
It would be recalled that, last week, the CBN banned 9 banks from the forex market for refusing to remit $2.12 billion NNPC/NLNG funds in their possession into the TSA. However, less than 24 hours later, UBA was readmitted after it paid $530 million it owed.
Premium Times gathered that the remaining banks, through their CEOs, had to pledge to strictly adhere to the repayment plan.
Parts of this article originally appeared in Premium Times.
