CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stressed the urgent need by the banking industry to invest continuously in cybersecurity and data protection.

Nigeria’s banking sector has emerged from its latest recapitalisation exercise with a stronger capital foundation, but the completion of the exercise marks the beginning of another phase of reform rather than the end of the process.

Nigerian banks’ placements with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rose to N6.28tn on Tuesday, highlighting the substantial liquidity surplus within the banking system.

Muhammad Sani Abdullahi, Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, said 33 banks had met the revised minimum capital requirements and raised N4.65tn by the end of the two-year recapitalisation programme.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to cut the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 26.5 percent to 23 percent is one of the biggest monetary-policy shifts in recent years.

Nigeria’s financial system is expected to receive approximately ₦2.59 trillion from maturing central-bank bills and government bond interest this week, potentially increasing competition for investments just as savers look for attractive returns.

A review of eight Nigerian Treasury Bills auctions conducted between July and September showed that total allotments were 40.34 percent above the planned issuance for the quarter.

SERAP said it would take “appropriate legal action” if the CBN failed to respond to its demands within the stipulated period.

The average maximum lending rate in the banking sector fell to 29.19 percent in August from 33.16 percent in July, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data.

Treasury bill stop rates fell sharply across all three maturities at Wednesday’s primary market auction, extending the repricing of Nigeria’s short-term fixed-income market following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 350-basis-point interest-rate cut.