Posted by From ISAAC ANUMIHE, Abuja on
As the dust raised by the postponement of banks' financial year is about to settle, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday jettisoned the idea of a common year-end for banks.
As the dust raised by the postponement of banks' financial year is about to settle, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday jettisoned the idea of a common year-end for banks.
Speaking after the meeting of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), of CBN officials and managing directors of banks in the country, the (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, said the common year-end for banks would no longer be a requirement and so left to the discretion of the banks to decide.
According to him, the MPC arrived at this decision after reviewing developments in the financial market and the displaced perceptions that the interest rate trends are linked to the requirement of a common year-end.
The committee also mandated banks to publish their lending and deposit rates to ensure fairness and transparency in the market
Soludo disclosed that the committee, after extensive deliberations with the aim of ensuring transparency in the money market and foster healthy competition, said banks are now to fully disclose to the public their deposit rates and their base lending rates and other charges for all the sectors of the economy.
Furthermore, he said the publications should be made in the banks' respective websites and updated daily, stating that the apex bank would now collate all these rates and publish in its own website monthly.
He gave the assurance that banks would comply with this directive, threatening that any bank that behaves otherwise would incur the wrath of the CBN
On the macro economic environment, the committee maintained that the current rate of inflation year on year requires urgent attention because of the adverse effects of inflation on the economic well being of the citizens