FBN, GTbank among 26 banks debited N216.1bn for CRR compliance

First Bank of Nigeria, GTbank are among the 26 banks debited N216.1bn by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as part of its Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) compliance requirement, National Daily has gathered.

The cash reserve requirement is the minimum amount banks are expected to retain with the Central Bank of Nigeria from customer deposits.

In January, the CRR was increased by 5% to 27.5% by the CBN Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) who explained that the decision was intended to address monetary-induced inflation whilst retaining the benefits from the CBN’s LDR policy.

According to reliable sources, Zenith Bank Plc was debited a whopping N46.3bn, followed by GTbank’s N25bn, FCMB: N15.5 billion, and then First Bank of Nigeria Ltd: N15 billion.

Others affected banks include: Access Bank Plc: N5 billion; Citibank: N11 billion; Coronation Merchant Bank: N2 billion; Ecobank: N9 billion; FBN Merchant Bank: N2.5 billion; Fidelity Bank Plc: N5 billion; FSDH: N251.2 million; Globus Bank: N1 billion; Heritage Bank Plc: N1.5 billion and Keystone Bank Limited: N1.4 billion.

Also, Nova Merchant Bank Ltd was debited N6 billion; Providus Bank: N1.2 billion; Rand Merchant Bank: N335.5 million; Polaris Bank Ltd: N6 billion; Stanbic IBTC: N30 billion; Standard Chartered Bank: N10 billion; Sterling Bank Plc: N3.3 billion; SunTrust Bank: N683.9 million; Titan Trust Bank: N500 million; Union Bank of Nigeria Plc: N8 billion; Unity Bank Plc: N9 billion and Wema Bank Plc: N567.7 million.

Reacting to the latest debit, a trader who wish to remain anonymous, said it has become a tradition for CBN to debit banks few days to FX sales to avoid the huge pressure from banks.

“Because they don’t want banks coming with huge demands to the FX auction, what they do is that a day before the FX sales, they debit the banks so that the naira you have available is small and you cannot put them under pressure because of your FX demands,” the source said.