BUSINESS & ECONOMY

CBN to Banks: Publish Statement Early or Risk Sanction

Every Nigerian bank is required to publish its statement of account within four months of the end of its financial year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned.

In its “Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade and Exchange Policy Guidelines for the 2016/2017” released Monday, the CBN directed all banks to publish their financial statements not later than four months from the end of their financial year or risk sanction, including removal of the managing director and the board chairman.

The apex bank quotes the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (2010): “In accordance with BOFIA 2010 LFN, banks are required, subject to the written approval of the CBN, to publish not later than four months after the end of each financial year, their audited financial statements (statement of financial position and statement of comprehensive income) in a national newspaper printed and circulated in Nigeria.

“To facilitate the implementation of consolidated supervision, all banks, discount houses and their subsidiaries shall continue to adopt December 31 as their accounting year-end.

“The CBN shall continue to hold the Board Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of a defaulting bank directly responsible for any breach and impose appropriate sanctions which may include the following: Barring the MD or his/her nominee from participation in the Bankers’ Committee and disclosing the reason for such suspension; suspension of the foreign exchange dealership licence of the bank and its name sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (in the case of a public quoted company); and removal of the chairman and managing director from office if the accounts remain unpublished for 12 months after the end of the bank’s financial year.”

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