Access Bank Plc’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Herbert Wigwe, has thrown his weight behind the new policy the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) put in place for banks, in order to boost lending into the country’s economy.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday, Wigwe gave a warm welcome to CBN’s directive for banks’ daily deposits placement through the CBN’s Standing Deposit Facility not to exceed N2 billion.
He also supported CBN’s decision to introduce penalties for banks that fail to comply with the new policy in a bid to stimulate lending, particularly to the country’s small and medium-sized businesses.
The Access Bank Chief said, “If we don’t have that kind of thing as sanction coming from the Central Bank, what you will find is that most banks will not do it. The initiative from the Central Bank can only help stimulate growth.”
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The Central Bank had directed that banks’ daily deposits placement through the CBN’s Standing Deposit Facility, shall no longer exceed N2 billion.
This new policy was made known in a circular titled, “Guidelines on accessing the CBN Standing Deposit Facility.”
Penalty. According to the circular signed by the Director of Financial Markets Department of the apex bank, Angela Sere-Ejembi, daily deposits by any bank in excess of N2 billion shall not attract interest payments.
Samson Oyedeyi
