The news:
- The Central Bank of Nigeria has revoked the licences of 132 microfinance banks.
- It also revoked the licences of another 47 microfinance banks for reasons related to not operating according to the guidelines of which their licences were issued.
- The CBN said some of the microfinance banks either did not continue business for up to six months or did not operate in accordance with the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act.
The CBN said the microfinance banks whose licences have been revoked have either failed to “continue the type of business for which their licences were issued for a continuous period of 6 months,” failed to comply with the conditions stated in their licences or did not operate in “accordance with the provisions of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, Act No. 5.”
The information that was published on the CBN website had a list of the 132 financial institutions whose licences were revoked.
Some of the microfinance banks include Atlas Microfinance Bank, Virtue Microfinance Bank, Vibrant Microfinance Bank, Royal Microfinance Bank, Chidera Microfinance Bank, North Capital Microfinance Bank, and First Lady Index Microfinance Bank.
The finance companies whose licences were revoked are HHL Invest & Trust Limited, TFS Finance Limited, and Treasures & Trust Limited.
Primary mortgage banks with their licences revoked are Resort Savings and Loans, Safetrust Mortgage Bank, Adamawa Savings and Loan, and Kogi Savings and Loan.
According to another government notice on the CBN’s website, a different list of 47 microfinance banks also had their licences revoked.
They include Eyowo Microfinance Bank, Almond Microfinance Bank, Kogi Microfinance Bank, Jamis Microfinance Bank, New World Microfinance Bank, Greenland Microfinance Bank, and Fadama Farmers Microfinance Bank.
