Five top banks in Nigeria remitted a sum of N1.4bn as penalties to financial regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, Security Exchange Council and Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, in the first half of 2021, according to reports.
The banks are the United Bank of Africa, Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank and First City Monument Bank.
PUNCH reports that analysis of the H1 2021 financial statements of the banks obtained from their websites revealed they paid the sum of N1.4bn as fines.
It was learnt that the banks paid fines for contraventions and infractions of guidelines instituted by the Federal Government through the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, relevant CBN circulars and other regulatory requirements.
In the period under review, GTB paid a total sum of N692m as penalties to regulators for two major infractions bordering on foreign exchange transactions carried out by Betting and Gaming Companies (N690m) and non-refund of interest on debit of non-interest related charges to non-funded accounts (N2m).
For forex trade infractions and other forex infractions, risk based supervision between 2018 and 2019 and late returns, Fidelity bank paid the sum of N64.1m to the CBN during the period under review.
SEC also sanctioned the bank within the review period to the tune of N1.1m for late filling of its December 31 2020 Audited Financial Statement.
The total sum paid for infractions by Fidelity bank is H1 2021 was N349.3m lower than the aggregate sum of N414.5m paid as penalties in H1 2020.
According to the financial reports, Access Bank was fined N184.5m by the CBN while SEC fined the bank N1m during the review period.
UBA incurred regulatory sanctions of N278m in H1 2021, N287m lower than the sum of N565m incurred in H1 2020.
Meanwhile, FCMB Group’s penalties rose from N150.2m paid to regulatory bodies in H1 2020 to N162.3m in H1 2021.
