Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has taken a tough line with the banks
The Central Bank of Nigeria would also prefer that any foreign bank planning to acquire a stake in a Nigerian bank be willing to share ownership with Nigerians and not demand 100% of the entity, Lamido Sanusi said in an interview published recently.
The Central Bank of Nigeria conducted audits of Nigeria’s 24 banks this year that were aimed at stabilizing an industry reeling from bad debts. Sanusi fired the chief executive officers of eight lenders and injected at least N620 billion ($4.12 billion) into those and two other banks to boost their capital and liquidity.
A first audit in August resulted in the sacking of the CEOs of the following banks: Afribank Nigeria Plc, Finbank Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc, Oceanic Bank International Plc, and Union Bank Nigeria Plc.
In October, the CEOs of Bank PHB Plc, Spring Bank Plc and Equitorial Trust Bank Ltd. were dismissed, while Wema Bank Plc and Unity Bank Plc retained their management and received capital injection. Read the rest of this entry »
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday made good its threat to publish names of non-performing debts – owed mostly by politicians, entrepreneurs, and shareholders/directors – whose companies secured loans totaling N450 billion from five banks. 
Nigeria’s financial crimes watch dog, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), charged top officials of five banks with multiple counts of offenses, including giving loans without required security, manipulation of stock prices, and failing to render accurate reports to regulators. 
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said on Thursday that it has recovered NGN25 billion from alleged loan defaulters of the five banks whose managing directors were sacked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Erastus Akingbola, sacked Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank, last week asked a federal court to reinstate him and demanded N50 billion ($333 million) in damages, court papers showed on Friday.
