By Idris Saidu
365Daily – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured that Nigerian banks are stable, robust and resilient in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was disclosed on Friday, October 22, 2021, by the apex bank’s Director of Banking Supervision, Mr Haruna Mustafa, at the 2021 Financial Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) workshop in Ibadan.
Mustapha, who was represented by CBN’s Assistant Director, Banking Supervision, Mr Adekunle Adeniji, said the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) rose to 15.21 per cent as at August, Liquidity Ratio (LR) rose to 42.23 per cent.
He said non-performing loan ratio improved from 6.58 per cent to 5.9 per cent as at August 2021, while banking system credit to the economy increased to 10.99 per cent between January and August.
Furthermore, he noted that the regulatory measures taken by CBN contributed to the growth, while listing some interventions by the apex bank to lessen the impact of the pandemic to include reduction in interest rates to five per cent.
Also mentioned is the N50 billion target credit facility for households and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and re-enactment of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA 2020) to strengthen the regulatory and resolution architecture for banks and other financial institutions.
He added that CBN would continue to develop additional counter cyclical policy options that could be utilised in periods of stress and strengthen macro-prudential regulation and supervision was more critical now than ever.
“We expect financial services to be provided more in a digital manner. We will continuously update and assess our prudential rule books and policy to strengthen responses to economic and financial shocks. We will continue to deploy effective stress testing methodologies to detect vulnerabilities early to enable appropriate pre-emptive action,” he said.
The Director explained that the banking sector had also sustained the growth of key economic activities, which were impacted by the pandemic in the agriculture, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, hospitality and tourism sectors.