Zenith Maintains Lead in Forex Allocation

 Zenith Bank Plc has maintained its lead for the second week in a row with the highest allocation of foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the returns on utilization of forex published by banks last week have shown.

Zenith Bank with an allotment of $23,630,485.39 was closely followed by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) which got $23,549,564.32, to come in second, while Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited with $20,003,513.17 held the third slot.

Also, Ecobank Nigeria which published returns of $15,120,559.25, held the fourth position, while First City Monument Bank Limited (FCMB) with $14,780,851.20, occupied the fifth position.

Similarly, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) reported returns of $14,518,891.10 to occupy the sixth place, just as Access Bank Plc with $12,569,794.24, held the seventh place. Diamond Bank Plc with $11,525,173.56, was in the eighth slot.

Diamond Bank was followed by Union Bank of Nigeria Plc which reported returns of $11,058,653.79, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc – $8,536,168.37, Citibank – $8,006,422.11, and Fidelity Bank Plc – $7,125,684.54.

A breakdown of individual bank returns showed that Zenith Bank sold forex to a total of 439 customers – individual and corporate. The bank’s forex sales showed that a significant number of customers on its list procured forex to pay tuition abroad and for personal travel allowances (PTA), while some others bought dollars for the importation of visible items.

GTBank sold the dollars purchased from the CBN to 224 customers, with 32 of its customers getting forex for the importation of petrol, corrugated cardboards, spare parts, bitumen, and industrial raw materials, among others. In addition, 130 GTBank customers were sold forex to pay for school fees while about 62 got forex for PTA.

Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited listed the 246 customers it sold forex to. The customers utilised the dollars they purchased from the bank for loan repayment, school fees, PTA and Business Travel Allowances (BTA).