The Central Bank has revealed that it will soon be conducting a risk assessment on Nigerian Banks. This was made known by the Director, Banking Supervision, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Agnes Tokunbo-Martins at the Risk Managers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) round table in Lagos at the weekend.
Here she is being quoted;
“I must say we do have so many risks in front of us and this is the time that risk managers really need to be on their toes. There are all sorts of risks that have come up; ranging from currency mismatched, interest rates risks in the banking books. If these risks are involving on a daily basis, then the skills required to manage them, even to identify them, and manage them are changing.
“Risk management framework can’t be static. If we say that the risk change on a daily basis, the framework can’t be static. Even the appetite can’t be static, the mitigate need to change. The risk management framework needs to be reviewed constantly.” She further added: “Risk management in Nigeria banks is no longer at the rudimentary stage; it is becoming more and more sophisticated.
I think is much more appreciate than it used to be, some banks that have had their fingers burnt know why risk management is something you have in place just because the regulator says it should be there. It is not down on so many banks that it is something we really need.”
“We in the central bank very soon would be conducting an impact assessment and we expect that the banks already are doing that on their own.”
The CBN frequently conducts risk assessments on commercial banks in Nigeria, however critics believe this has done little to avoid huge impairments by commercial banks. CBN provisional data suggest commercial banks may have provided for loan losses of about N857 billion in the first 8 months of 2016 alone.
