Banking
CBN to Resume LDR Policy, Unfreezes Accounts of AbokiFX, Others
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ordered banks to vacate a Post-No-Debit (PND) restriction earlier imposed on the bank accounts of 440 individuals and companies.
The central bank has also informed commercial banks in the country that it would resume the enforcement of the Loan-to-Deposit Ratio (LDR) policy effective July 31, 2023.
A PND is one instrument through which the CBN gives powers to stop customers from operating their bank accounts with the permission of the courts.
The central bank conveyed the vacation of restriction in a circular dated July 25, 2023, which was signed by Mr A.M. Barau on behalf of the CBN Director, Banking Supervision Department, and addressed to all banks.
The correspondence read, “You are hereby directed to vacate the Post-No-Debit restriction placed on the accounts of the under-listed bank customers at our instance.”
The apex bank further mandated the banks to inform the concerned customers of the vacation accordingly.
Some of the affected accounts included Fortune-K Resources and Investment Nigeria Limited, Voomos Limited, BoxII Limited, OP Amber, KIIPay Limited, Blake Excellence Resort, and Vanu Nigeria Limited.
Others are Bakori Mega Services, Ashambrakh General Enterprise, Namuduka Ventures Limited, Crosslinks Capital and Investment Limited, IGP Global Synergy Limited, Davedan Mille Investment Limited and Urban Laundry, Advanced Multi-Links Services Limited, Spray Resources, Al-Ishaq Global Resources Limited, Himark Intertrades, Charblecom Concept Limited, Wudatage Global Resources, Whales Oil and Gas, Mosinox Oil and Gas and A.A. Gwad Ventures.
Those also listed included Treynor Soft Ventures, Fyrstrym Global Concepts Limited, Samarize Global Nigeria Limited, Zahraddeen Haruna Shahru, FirmCoin Resources and SIBT Acuracy, and CrossLinks Energy Limited, among others.
On the LDR policy, the apex bank said the move followed the January 7, 2020, directive, which required banks to maintain a minimum LDR of 65 per cent.
The CBN, in a letter addressed to the banks and signed by Mr Abu Shebe, on behalf of the CBN Director of Banking Supervision, further explained that the resumption of enforcement was in line with the objective of the policy and the need to moderate industry excess liquidity.
Consequently, the CBN warned that Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) with LDR below the minimum requirement as of the date and monthly thereafter would be liable to a Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) surcharge of up to 50 per cent of the lending shortfall implied by the target LDR.
The bank added that the DMBs would be duly notified of their respective LDR position and basis of surcharges, if any.
On July on July 3, 2019, the central bank, in an effort to stimulate the economy, mandated banks to keep a minimum LDR – defined as a loan-to-funding ratio – of 60.0 per cent, which was later reviewed upward to 65.0 per cent on September 30, 2019, to encourage banks to increase consumer, mortgage, and corporate credits thereby stimulating aggregate demand, output growth, and employment.
The LDR is the total value of loan facilities issued divided by the aggregate value of deposits mobilized and has both liquidity and solvency implications in the short-medium and medium to long-term horizons.
According to the CBN, this underscores the need to measure the impact of LDR on banks’ liquidity to ensure the achievement of the mandate of the bank – to promote a sound financial system in the country – without compromising the health of domestic banks.
The justification for the LDR policy was also to encourage banks to enhance credit delivery to the real sector of the economy.
The apex bank, in the January 2020 letter to all banks, stated that it noticed a remarkable increase in the size of gross credit by the DMBs to customers.
Accordingly, the apex bank decided to retain the minimum 65 per cent LDR in the interim and directed the banks to maintain the level.
The CBN noted that the incentive, which assigned a weight of 150 per cent with respect to lending to SMEs, retail, mortgage, and consumer lending, will continue to apply, while failure to achieve the target shall continue to attract a levy of additional CRR of 50 per cent of the lending shortfall of the target LDR on or before March 30, 2020.
The banks were further advised to maintain strong risk management practices regarding their lending operations.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The six edition of the Hackaholics of Wema Bank Plc has produced 20 top finalists shared equally between two streams, Ideathon and Hackathon.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists include PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
They emerged after a two-day pre-pitch held on December 16 and 17, 2025, for the grand finale slated for Friday, December 19, 2025.
They grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 will convene the top players in Africa’s tech and innovation ecosystem, creating an avenue for these finalists to not only put their creativity to the ultimate test but also give their solutions visibility to potential investors for additional funding opportunities beyond the prizes to be won.
The prizes to be won for the Ideathon include N25 million for the winner, N20 million for the first runner-up, N15 million for the second runner-up and N5 million each for two women-led teams.
In the Hackathon category, the first to fourth-place winners will receive N20 million, N15 million, N10 million and N5 million, respectively.
The pre-pitch saw the top 43 contenders battle in a game of innovation and problem solving, presenting compelling pitches for a chance to make it to top 10 in their respective streams.
After a rigorous stretch of pitches and presentations, the top 20 emerged, securing their spot in the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0.
“Hackaholics started off as a hackathon and morphed into an ideation. For Hackaholics 6.0, the sixth edition, we decided to give both the builders of new solutions and the refiners of existing ones, an opportunity to make meaningful impact.
“For us at Wema Bank, we understand that innovation isn’t just building from scratch. Sometimes, it’s looking at what exists and developing new ways to optimise that and create more efficiency. This is the idea behind our two-stream Ideathon-Hackathon structure.
“Every year, Hackaholics shows us just how eager and motivated Nigerian youth are when it comes to exploring creativity and innovation, and we are honoured to be the institution that provides them with the platform and resources to put this drive to good use.
“We toured seven cities, indulged 1,460 participants and discovered hundreds of remarkable ideas; some of which needed some refining and some of which deserved to move to the next stage.
“For those who needed to go back to the drawing board, we provided useful guidance and for the top contenders, we were able to shortlist to the top 43, who proceeded to the pre-pitch. To every participant, Wema Bank is proud of you. This is just the beginning,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will enforce penalties against designated banks that delay the remittance of customs revenue, in a move aimed at strengthening transparency and safeguarding government earnings.
This was disclosed in a statement on the NCS official account on X, formerly known as Twitter and signed by its spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Maiwada, who said the delays undermine the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has noted instances of delayed remittance of customs revenue by some designated banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’odogwu platform,” the statement read.
“Such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“In line with the provisions of the Service Level Agreement executed between the Nigeria Customs Service and designated banks, the Service hereby notifies stakeholders of the commencement of enforcement actions against banks found to be in default of agreed remittance timelines.”
Mr Maiwada disclosed that any bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timeline will be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the period of the delay.
He added that affected banks would be formally notified of the delayed amounts, the applicable penalty, and the deadline for settlement.
“Accordingly, any designated bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed period shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the duration of the delay.
“Affected banks will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty, and the timeline for settlement,” the statement read.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Mr Ini Ebong, has offloaded some shares of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent firm of the banking institution.
A regulatory notice from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited confirmed the development on Thursday.
It was disclosed that the transaction occurred on Friday, December 12, 2025, on the floor of the stock exchange.
The sale involved about 11.8 million shares, precisely 11,783,333 units traded at N31.14 per share, amounting to about N366.9 million.
Mr Ebong, who studied Architecture from University of Ife and obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees, became the DMD of First Bank in June 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking since January 2022.
He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.
Before joining First Bank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Business Head.
He has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income and securities.
He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices.
At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks and market participants.
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