CBN sanctions UBA, GT, Access, Fidelity banks for money laundering, others

Four major banks in the country have incurred the wrath of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, as they have been slammed with sanctions.

It was gathered that the apex bank sanctioned the banks for failure to comply with its Know-Your-Customers guidelines and the anti-money laundering requirements.

The banks disclosed the sanctions in their audited financial statements for the six months ended June, 2019.

It was learnt that GTBank Plc was asked to pay N10m while the United Bank for Africa Plc and Access Bank Plc were asked to pay N8m each. Fidelity Bank Plc was sanctioned N4m by the regulatory body.

GTBank disclosed in its audited financial statement for six months ended June 30 that it was sanctioned N2m for Anti-Money laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism regulation on three-tiered KYC and N8m for 2018 risk- based examination findings.

The bank, however, explained that it was committed to fight all forms of financial crime including money laundering, terrorist financing, bribery and corruption.

Access Bank was sanctioned N4m over failure to comply with anti-money laundering requirements and additional N4m in respect of failure to comply with the apex bank’s manual of operations for fund transfer.

UBA, on the other hand, said it was sanctioned N2m for late resolution of customer compliants and N6m for deficiency in account documentation/late records retrieval.

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It would be recalled that the apex bank had earlier in the month also announced a series of new sanctions to be meted out to deposit money banks, mobile money operators, payment solution service providers and other financial institutions for electronic payment infractions.

The CBN, issued the ‘Regulations on Electronic Payments and Collections for Public and Private Sectors in Nigeria’, which it described as a revision of the Guidelines on Electronic Payment of Salaries, Pensions, Suppliers and Taxes in Nigeria (2014).

It said the regulations were intended to guide the end-to-end electronic payment of salaries, pensions and other remittances, suppliers and revenue collections in the country.

According to the apex bank, the objective of the regulations is to fully align with the core objectives of the National Payments System Vision 2020 to ensure the availability of safe, effective and efficient mechanisms for conveniently making and receiving all types of payments from any location and at any time, through multiple electronic channels.

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