The Central Bank of Nigeria has finally updated its operational guidelines for the blacklisting of Bank Staffs involved in fraudulent activities, forgeries or even conviction. The Black book is a record of staffs of Nigerian banks who have been fired for being fraudulent, convicted or dishonest in carrying out their duties. It is a dreaded book as any name found there cannot be employed by any other Financial Institution in Nigeria.
Interestingly, the Central Bank confirms that Commercial Banks have in recent times not conformed with the requirements for inclusion of names into the black list. They often ask to include names of staff who have been dismissed for lesser offenses such as lateness to work, abandonment of duty etc. They have now informed Financial Institutions to desist from doing this.
We read through the new guidelines and picked out some key details in the new guidelines
- A blacklisted person is anyone who has been terminated or dismissed strictly as a result of Fraud, Act of dishonesty and Conviction.
- Before a blacklist is initiated a Disciplinary Committee (DC) must be set and they must have conducted an investigation
- The DC must have established that the staff involved had committed an act of fraud and dishonesty.
- The staff must have been granted Fair hearing through the Disciplinary committee.
- The staff must also be communicated by the DC of the decisions reached.
- If none of these things occur then the bank has no right to request that any person be placed on the blacklist.
- Blacklist can include permanent, temporary or contract staff of banks
- Once the CBN receives the names of those shortlisted for blacklist, they review it for due process and then sends to head of bankers committee for blacklist
- A blacklisted person can be deleted from the black book if the CBN gets a court order or upon request by the Financial Institution for reconsideration
- A staff whose employment was terminated for miscellaneous offenses other than fraud and dishonesty will not be barred from working in any financial institution. However, the bank is obligated to sending in the names of such staff to the CBN
Get the full guidelines here
