CBN to charge protection fee on non-interest securities

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it would charge investors protection fees on its non-interest asset-backed securities.

In its recently issued draft framework of the CBN Non-Interest Asset Backed Securities (CNI-ABS), the regulator said it “shall charge Wakala fee,” which means protection, authorisation and delegation.

According to financialadvisory.com, “wakalah is a term in Islamic finance that denotes an agency contract, where one party appoints another to conduct a defined legal action on his behalf, for a specified fee or commission.”

The CBN intends to charge 10.00 per cent of the underlying return for one to 30 days investment; 7.50 per cent for 31 to 90 days; five per cent for 91 to 180 days; and 2.50 per cent for 181 to 365 days on persons or institutions interested in the CNI-ABS beginning from 2021.

Angela A. Ejembi, director of CBN’s financial markets unit, disclosed in the circular covering the draft framework that “the increased investments in Sukuk issued by multilateral organisations and the rising participation of non-interest financial institutions at the CBN windows has made it mandatory that the CNI-ABS to be operationalised.”

Read also: Nigerian banks could record weak earnings in 2020 –Report

She added that the apex bank developed the CNI-ABS to deepen the country’s financial markets, broaden financial inclusion and create a liquidity management instrument that conforms to the principles of non-interest finance.

The CNI-ABS is seeking a complete or partial conversion of the value of CBN investments in Islamic Development Bank and/or International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation Sukuk, or any other Sukuk from multilateral organisations where Nigeria is a member.

A single exchange is to be applied for issuing, maturity and return of every issue relative to the underlying asset and will be determined at the commencement of each auction.

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