Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that it would embark on another recapitalisation of the banking system in the country.
This information was made known on Monday morning by Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, in Abuja.
The CBN chief, while unveiling his policy direction for 2019 to 2024, disclosed that the regulator will raise the minimum capital base from its present level.
Business Post reports that the last time the banking industry experienced recapitalisation was in 2004, during the tenure of Professor Chukwuma Soludo as the CBN Governor.
During the recapitalisation exercise, the minimum capital for banks operating in the country was pushed up to N25 billion from N1 billion for existing banks and N2 billion for new entrants.
The banks were then given till December 31, 2005 to meet up with the new requirement. This brought about mergers in the sector and at the end, only 25 banks made the cut.
More information later.
