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Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday refuted reports on seven banks failing stress tests, saying the strategic health of Nigerian banks was very strong.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, said this during a press briefing at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
He said the central bank has, as a matter of policy since 2015, tried to avoid being sensational about stress-testing, as “stresstesting has become part of our normal routine, in trying to check the strategic health of all the banks in the industry.
“The fact that you read that seven banks failed stress test does not mean that those banks are weak, what we are saying is that there areas that they are weak, we try to make sure they address them. If for instance, they fail capital adequacy ratio, we counsel them about how to resolve it. So, it has nothing to do with the weakness of any bank that would lead to any panic or systemic crisis in the industry.”
On the other hand, the CBN has opposed the N4:00 charge per 20 seconds on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) access to banking service by telecoms companies.
Read also: CBN goes tough against banks for LDR, treasury bills infractions
The transactions to be affected by the charges include intra- and inter-bank money transfers, through USSD, among others.
“I understand that about three to four weeks ago, rather than reduce it, they went ahead to increase from N1500 to N4500 that is a 300 percent increase. I opposed it and I have told the banks that we would not allow this to happen,” Emefiele said.
The banks are the people who give these businesses to the telecoms companies, he said, and that he allowed the banks and the telecoms companies to engage, “And I have told the banks that they have to move their business and move their traffic to a telecoms company that is ready to provide it at the lowest possible rate and if not at zero cost, and there is where we stand and we must achieve it.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has directed the immediate suspension of N4:00 charge per 20 seconds on USSD access to banking services, from October 21, 2019.
Accordingly, Isa Pantami, minister of communications, has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to ensure compliance by mobile network operators.
Spokesperson for the Pantami, Uwa Suleiman, who conveyed the directive, said the minister was unaware of the planned tariff, saying, “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Communications has been drawn to the viral text message allegedly sent by the mobile network operators, MTN Nigeria and other mobile operators notifying subscribers of a tour naira (N4200) charge per 20 seconds on USSD access to banking services from the 21st of October 2019.”
