CBN, Nigerian Banks Collude Against Currency Speculators

The Central Bank of Nigeria and it’s stakeholders are forming a coalition against currency speculators who profit from round tripping and other currency manipulation practices.

The naira appreciated in the late hours of Thursday to N520/$ from the previous day’s close of N525/$ at the parallel market.

CEOs of Commercial banks in Nigeria in an emergency meeting on how to ensure compliance with the new forex directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria, expressed their appreciation by pledging support for the new foreign exchange measures coming from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the efforts made to stabilize foreign exchange.

After halting issuance of licences to BDCs, the CBN had ordered all banks to set up teller points at designated branches so they could fulfil legitimate FX requests for travel allowances, tuition fee, medical payments, business allowances, SME transactions among others.

During the meeting Herbert Wigwe, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank, disclosed the readiness of the banking industry to assist with this function.

He talked about the strict compliance measures at the bank and said “We expect that all banks in Nigeria will be able to meet these requirements. The banks have more than enough capacity to do this if you look at all their branches nationwide”

Wigwe promised that appropriate safeguards for the bank’s information would be in place to prevent disruptions and abuses of the system, adding that the banks will also verify FX applicants through their Bank Verification Number BVN.

He added that, Banks that fail to create a forex desk as mandated by the regulator will be sanctioned.

The Access Bank GMD said that his bank is willing to comply with all requirements in all of its branches.