By Odunewu Segun
In the Central Bank of Nigeria weekly forex allocation to banks last week, Stanbic IBTC and the United Bank for Africa led 14 other commercial banks and three merchant banks.
While Stanbic IBTC got the highest allocation with $18,685,730.12, selling to 140 customers most of whom were taking capital from the economy.
The United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) came in second with a forex allocation of $17,623,843.80. Forex returns published by the pan-African bank showed that Dangote Group, which got $5 million was its biggest customer during the week.
Others were Eterna Plc, which bought $2.401 million, IATA which purchased $1.5 million from the bank for ticket sale remittances, Knight Metal Manufacturing Company Limited – $1.086 million, and Flour Mills – $1 million.
Standard Chartered Bank Limited held the third position with a forex allocation of $12,425,194.16. The bank sold the greenback to 247 customers. Its biggest customers during the week were Matrix Energy Limited which got $1.598 million.
ALSO SEE: GTB, First Bank lead others in forex allocation
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc which also bought $2 million from the bank, and BUA Limited which bought $1 million.
Diamond Bank Plc came in fourth with $12,144,423.10, while Citibank Limited got $11,228,233.26 to hold the fifth place.
Citibank sold the dollars it was allocated to 99 customers. A lot of its customers took capital out of the economy.
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc came in sixth with a forex allocation of $11,017,251.86, while Zenith Bank Plc with $10,343,290.37 held the seventh position.
Ecobank Nigeria Limited was allocated $9,195,650.58 which placed the pan-African bank on the eight position, while
Fidelity Bank Plc with total forex allocation of $5,627,738.11 came in ninth; First City Monument Bank Plc was in the 10th place with a forex allocation of $5,282,778.83, which its published returns showed it sold to 325 customers.
Union Bank Plc also got a total of $4,290,460.71 from the central bank, which it sold to 150 customers.
The amount was however lower by $9,807,230.73, compared with the $142,646,892.01 sold to the banks in the preceding week. The drop was partly attributed to the fact that FirstBank of Nigeria Limited did not publish its returns during the week.