By Kelechi Mgboji
Assistant Business Editor
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned nine deposit money banks (DMBs) from the foreign exchange market (forex) for hiding over $2.3 billion belonging to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
At the full implementation of the TSA in 2015, the CBN had warned that banks that fail to comply totally with the TSA remission plan would be punished.
While unveiling the guidelines for foreign exchange trading in June, the CBN reiterated the need for banks to comply or face suspension from the forex market.
The CBN may take action against any FXPD that fails to comply with the standards set forth in the Guidelines. Such action will vary depending upon the type of non-compliance, but may range, for instance, from fines, suspension from any or all FX operations for a period of time to termination as an FXPD,” CBN had said.
In October 2015, the CBN fined two leading banks for the same offence repeated in 2016, leading to the payment of over N4 billion to the apex bank.
Already, all the banks involved had been barred from the forex market until they fully refund the $2.3 billion held up in their coffers.