The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the capital requirements for commercial banks with international authorization to ₦500 billion.
The CBN Director in charge of Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa, announced this in a letter to all commercial, merchant, and non-interest banks and promoters of proposed banks.
He urged all banks to meet the minimum capital requirement within 24 months commencing from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2026.
According to the statement, the new minimum capital base for commercial banks with national authorization is now ₦200 billion, while the new requirement for those with regional authorization is ₦50 billion.
The bank also disclosed that the new minimum capital for merchant banks would be ₦50 billion, while the new requirements for non-interest banks with national and regional authorizations are ₦20 billion and ₦10 billion, respectively.
The declaration was made only a few days after Olayemi Cardoso, the Governor of the CBN, asked deposit money institutions to recapitalize their capital bases as soon as possible to bolster the financial sector.
Cardoso, who took office two months earlier, had stated in November of last year that the nation’s commercial banks would be required to boost their capital bases in order to support President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s goal of a $1 trillion economy. (vitalnewsngr.com)
