Prime Business AfricaThe Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fined commercial banks N17.35 billion in 2024, with the penalty increasing by N16.98 billion compared to the N369,71 million the financial institutions paid in 2023.
According to Prime Business Africa’s findings, CBN fined nine banks, out of the 12 listed lenders on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), with Zenith Bank recording the highest penalty last year.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThis publication gathered that Ecobank, NPA Microfinance Bank and Jaiz Bank were not penalised by the financial regulator in 2024, according to their financial statements for last year.
Breakdown Of Fines Paid By Banks
Zenth Bank
Zenith Bank led the table with a N15.42 billion fine in 2024, surpassing the N369.71 million filed as penalty in the previous year.
The lender was fined for various infractions, including late resolution of a customer’s complaint, non-compliance with the CBN directive on the reconciliation of customer charges and a penalty for anti-money laundering findings.
Zenith Bank was also penalised for non-compliance with CBN directives, penalty for cybersecurity breaches, penalty for extant regulation violation, and infractions from the foreign exchange examination.
Access Holdings
Although Access Holdings paid a total of N1.20 trillion as penalty last year, N1.10 billion of the fine went to the CBN, compared to the N38 million the apex bank imposed as penalty on the financial institution in 2023.
The breakdown of its contraventions showed that CBN fined Access Holdings for the wrongful warehousing of funds received from a government agency, for contravention of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, and contravention of consumer protection regulation in respect of the wrong renewal of debit cards.
Access Holdings was also penalised for contravention of regulations on targeted financial sanctions and screening solutions relating to the bank’s database, for contravention of regulations on mystery shopping for confiscated naira notes, and for contravention of regulations on reporting of cyber incidents that occurred in the bank.
GTCO
Guaranty Trust Holdings Company (GTCO) paid N383.65 million to the CBN as penalty for contravening various apex bank regulations in 2024, exceeding the N55 million paid in the year before.
GTCO reported that the fines relate to contravention of consumer protection regulations, the 2023/2024 CBN’s FX examination on the bank, 2024 compliance-related/bank e-mail returns, as well as CBN’s mystery shopping exercise on the bank last year.
UBA
CBN fined the United Bank for Africa (UBA) N149.65 million during the period in review, but the lender filed a total of 400 million as penalty, which includes fines imposed in other sectors.
Although UBA did not pay any penalty to CBN in 2023, however, the bank paid a N110 million penalty to other regulators during the same year.
The apex bank sanctioned UBA for late rendition of the cybersecurity self-assessment report, sale of personal travel allowance to two customer accounts, inadequate documentation and update of the customer account and transaction, and a consumer complaint resolved by the consumer protection department.
FCMB
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) lost N136.65 million to fines last year, with CBN accounting for N120.65 million after penalising the lender for contravening sections 2.2 and 2.3 of the CBN Cybersecurity Framework 2018, contravening the Consumer Protection Regulation (CPR).
FCMB was also fined by the financial regulator in 2024 for contravention of CBN Anti-Money Laundering/Countering The Financing Of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Regulations 2013 (as Amended), contravention of section 14.3.1 of the bankers’ clearing system rules.
The year before, FCMB filed a total of N145.10 million fine, with N105 million going to the CBN.
Fidelity Bank
Fidelity Bank paid N71.28 million as fine to the CBN last year, surpassing the N40.26 million penalty paid to the financial regulator in 2023, when the lender recorded a total of N42.96 million fine, which includes the NGX sanction.
CBN penalised Fidelity Bank for the following: cash shortages, AML/CFT infractions, contravention of regulation for report filing and risk-based supervision (RBS).
Sterling Financial Holdings Company
Sterling Financial Holdings Company was fined N61 million by the CBN last year, exceeding the N29 million paid in 2023.
The lender did not report the reason for the penalty imposed on it by the regulator.
First HoldCo
First HoldCo recorded N42 million as total fines paid in 2024, but CBN accounted for N33,90 million, surpassing the N22 million paid to the apex bank the previous year, when it posted a total of N32 million.
The lender reported that CBN fined it for failure to address recommendations of external auditors in line with CBN directive, unresolved customer complaint by Kaduna branch, for delay in reporting identified incident related to cybersecurity and the appointment of senior staff without CBN approval.
Wema Bank
The list of banks sanctioned by the CBN was completed by Wema Bank, after paying N2 million to the financial regulator last year as penalty for various infractions.
However, in 2023, Wema Bank recorded N61.35 million as penalty, with CBN accounting for N59.45 million.
CBN fined Wema Bank in 2024 for contravention of the apex bank’s net open position limit during the year ended December 31, 2024.
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