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Banks set to embarrass debtors, to make names public

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If you are among those contributing to nation’s banks’ loan profile which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) puts at about N4bn, then your name may soon go public, as the apex bank has directed all Deposit Money Banks operating in the country to commence the publication of the names of chronic debtors from August 1, 2015.

CBN Director, Banking Supervision Department, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, stated this on Thursday while briefing journalists shortly after the 322nd Bankers’ Committee meeting, which was held in Abuja.

Apart from the issue of non-performing loans, other matters discussed at the meeting were the biometric registration of bank customers, liquidity of the foreign exchange market and the credit culture within the banking system.

Martins said August 1 marked the end of the three-month grace period given by the CBN for the debtors to service their debts with DMBs.

She said in a bid to ensure the stability of the financial system, there was a need for the central bank, in collaboration with the DMBs, to keep the non-performing loan portfolio at a minimal level.

For instance, Martins said the banking sector currently had a total loan portfolio of between N13tn and N14tn, noting that about three per cent of this were non-performing.

Going by this figure, the total non-performing loans of the banking sector are in the range of between N390bn and N420bn.

She said, “If you recall, at the last Bankers’ Committee meeting, we spoke about publishing the names of serial debtors of banks. We discussed that again and the fact that the date is drawing close.

“So, the banks are encouraged to speak to their customers that fall into that category that they should put in more efforts to pay up their loans.”

On the Bank Verification Number registration exercise, Managing Director, United Bank forAfrica Plc, Mr. Phillips Odouza said so far, about 12.5 million bank customers had been registered since the exercise began few months ago.

Odouza also said that with the progress so far made in the cashless policy, plans had been concluded to extend the coverage to other states of the federation, which he said, would be done before the end of the third quarter of this year.

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0 Comments

  1. billion$

    June 12, 2015 at 12:25 pm

    yes o!!!i concur,they should publish their names…lets know our debtors..

  2. dami-wums

    June 12, 2015 at 2:09 pm

    they are likely gonna create new identities….don’t you think?

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