Posted by By Clara Nwachukwu, Madrid, Spain on
The Banking sector consolidation and financial discipline has placed 20 Nigerian banks among the top 1,000 banks in the world, according to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oceanic Bank Plc, Mrs. Cecelia Ibru.
The Banking sector consolidation and financial discipline has placed 20 Nigerian banks among the top 1,000 banks in the world, according to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oceanic Bank Plc, Mrs. Cecelia Ibru.
She, however, did not list the names of the banks.
Ibru, who stated this in Madrid, Spain, while responding to the strength and capability of Nigerian banks at the 19th World Petroleum Congress, insisted that the indigenous banks now had the capacity to fund huge projects, and in particular, assist the Federal Government with its funding problems.
She said, 'Funding is a very important issue, which has been brought to the fore.
'Until the issue of consolidation, no one knew that Nigerian banks could today raise enough funds that would place 20 Nigerian banks among the top 1000 in the world.
'Nigeria is developing the financial capability to fund large budgets in the industry and other sectors as well. So now, we have a lot of financial strength and the discipline to fund big projects.
'She explained that the local banks were partnering with the foreign banks, adding that there was no fear of foreign ownership of Nigerian assets. According to her, 'There will be co-ownership, which is what is happening in the NLNG and government, and this is working out very well."
In line with this, she said some Nigerian banks had helped to fund the Nigerian LNG projects, as well as those of ExxonMobil, and were financially capable to fund more projects.
In particular, she said, banks were now able to raise Letters of Credit for the downstream operators to import petroleum products to meet local needs as against past methods of procurement.