CBN Instructs Banks to Stall Workers’ Sack

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Director,have asked banks in the country to hold off on massive retrenchment of workers.

The apex bank Banking Supervision, Tokunbo Martins, told newsmen after the Lagos meeting, that bank workers who had been living in fears over the possibility of losing their jobs should be assured that their jobs are no longer under threat.

She said: “One of the things we discussed was about the impending retrenchment in the banking industry. So, we understand that many bank workers are expressing fears about possible retrenchment in the industry.”

“We discussed and the banks are now committed to not retrenching their staff going forward. So, whatever rumours are flying around about that mass retrenchment is happening or not happening, that is not true.”

Martins also assured the banking public that Nigeria’s financial sector is safe and sound. Although she admitted that Nigeria’s banks are facing economic challenges, she said the lenders “have strong capital buffers to weather the crisis.”

She also dismissed the report published by the Arqaam Capital insisting that some Nigerian banks are in crisis.

Martins said: “Yes there was discussion around the stability of the banking sector. But even without the discussion, as Director Banking Supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, I can tell you that the report is false. The banks are adequately capitalised, so the report is not true.”

“That does not mean that the banking sector is not feeling the economic headwinds. The headwinds are also in every other jurisdictions. It is not strange. So, non-performing loans at 11.7 per cent is not what we should focus on”.

She assured that the banks have the capacity to absorb whatever losses that may arise from the level of non-performing loans in the industry. “But the fact is do the banks have the capacity to absorb any further loses that would arise? The answer is that they do. They have very strong capital buffers. Another thing that is important is does the banks have the capacity to generate huge income to absorb those loses,” she said.

“The underlying assets of the banks are still there, and they are good. So, I think you should totally dispel or ignore that type of story. It should be expected to have non-performing loans (NPLs). It is not the reason why any jurisdiction should be demonized. There are other jurisdictions that have NPLs as high as 15 per cent, 35 per cent and so on,” she said.

On the state of the foreign exchange market, Martins said bank customers that exceed $50,000 annual spend on Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) cards used abroad will be barred from the forex market.

She said the Committee also discussed the need to boost flow of forex to manufacturing sector, which employs millions of Nigerians. It said the approach would boost the production capacity of the manufacturing sector.