Citibank fined N12bn over failure to meet CBN’s Cash Reserve Requirement

For the first time in 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has wielded the big stick and debited Zenith Bank Plc, Providus Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited and 11 other banks N356.1billion for failing to meet its 27.5 per cent Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) obligation.

The fresh debit, it was reliably gathered occurred last Friday, has left many stakeholders in the banking very upset as the apex bank recently suspended debiting banks for not meeting the requirement.

According to data obtained by ThisDay, Zenith Bank and Providus Bank were the most hit while Fidelity Bank Plc was the least debited bank by the CBN.

A breakdown showed that Zenith Bank and Providus were debited N170 billion, N40 billion respectively. Others are: FCMB N39 billion, First Bank of Nigeria Limited N27 billion, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc N20 billion and Citibank N12 billion.

Stanbic IBTC bank, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and Polaris Banks were debited N10 billion each, Keystone Bank was debited N6 billion, Ecobank Nigeria N5 billion, Sterling Bank Plc, N3.6 billion, Fidelity Bank N2 billion and Nova merchant bank N 1.5 billion.

The last time CBN debited 16 banks and two merchant banks N175 billion was mid-December 2021.
CBN data showed that Zenith bank was the most debited bank on November 17, 2021, followed by Access Bank Plc and United bank for Africa Plc (UBA).

The breakdown of some affected banks revealed that, Zenith bank-N90 billion, Access bank-N25 billion, N500 million, FCMB Limited- N5 billion, and Stanbic Bank- N4 billion, Polaris- N3billion and UBA- N25billion.

The CBN had on December 8, 2021 debited seven banks and two merchant banks a sum of N29.6 billion.