Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, on Wednesday, August 24, said non-performing loans, NPLs, in the banking sector rose by 78 per cent year-on-year to N649.63 billion in May 2016.
The Apex Bank boss, who spoke at the Third National Credit Reporting Conference organised by the Credit Bureau Association of Nigeria, CBAN, in Lagos, said the current state of bad loans in the sector implies that efforts should be doubled in the area of credit information sharing in order to stem this worrisome trend.
Emefiele said the apex bank has made it mandatory for all financial institutions to have data exchange agreements with at least two credit bureaux.
He said:“All banks are required to obtain credit report from at least two credit bureaux before granting any facility to their customers whilst quarterly portfolio checks must also be carried out to enable them determine borrowers’ current exposure to the financial system.”
Emefiele, who was represented by the Branch Controller at CBN Lagos Office, James Iyari, said the apex bank has also approved the payment of one-off sign on fees with credit bureaux for all the microfinance banks and other micro financial institutions licensed by the CBN.
This, he said, would support effective use of the infrastructure provided by the private credit bureaux with a view to deepening the subsector.
Emefiele also warned that bank customers that continuously issue dud cheques to their clients will have their cheque booklets withdrawn by their banks. He said lenders have the right to withdraw the cheque books from customers that record three defaults.
