GTBank Maintains Lead in Forex Allocation from CBN

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, GTB, for the second week in a row, maintained its lead securing the highest allocation of foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, as last week’s figures have shown.

The lender with an allotment of $30,902,089.86 was followed by First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank), which got $19,610,855.76, to come in second, while Stanbic IBTC Limited with $19,206,106 held the third slot.

Zenith Bank Plc, which published returns of $16,823,160.04, came in fourth place, while Union Bank of Nigeria reported $15,602,956.71 to take the fifth place.

Also First City Monument Bank Limited (FCMB) reported returns of $14,273,731.24 to occupy the sixth place, Diamond Bank Plc with $13,929,883.10 came in seventh, Access Bank Plc reported returns of $13,698,086.72 to occupy the eighth slot, and Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria with $13,541,059.33 was ninth.

Standard Chartered was followed by Fidelity Bank – $11,152,667.93; United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) – $11,152,667.93; Citibank Nigeria – $8,843,320.04; Sterling Bank Plc – $6,645,092.19; and Wema Bank Plc – $1,052,198.89.

For GTB, its returns revealed that, of the $31 million it got from the central bank, it sold $11.830 million (38 per cent) to Dangote Industries Limited for the payment of interest on the company’s syndicated facility.

In all, GTB had 328 customers on its list, both corporates and individuals. Of the total, the payment for school fees abroad got the highest allocation in terms of volume, but it also sold dollars to some of its corporate customers importing raw materials, petrol and diesel, among others. Also, Lufthansa and Air France bought dollars from GTB for their ticket sales’ remittances.