A Bill to amend Banks and
other Financial
Institutions Decree (3)
Below is the
concluding part of the bill
•Amendment
to Section 45
Amends Section
45(1) to read thus:
Where any offence
against any provision of this Decree has been committed by a body corporate or
firm, any person who was a director, manager, secretary or other similar
officer of the body corporate or firm purporting to act in such capacity shall,
in addition to the body corporate or firm, be deemed to be guilty of that
offence unless he proves that the offence was committed without his consent or
connivance and that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission
of the offence as he ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his
functions in that capacity to all the circumstances.
•Amendment
to Section 46
Amends Section 46
to read thus:
Any person, being a
director, officer or manager of a bank who fails to take all reasonable steps
to secure the correctness of any statement submitted under the provisions of
this Decree is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not less
than N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of three years or such fine and
imprisonment, and in addition the Governor may:
(i) Suspend or remove
from the office any such officer, manager or director.
(ii) Suspend the authorised
dealership licence of the bank concerned; and
(iii)Ban the bank
from the autonomous foreign exchange markets or any market or medium for
transactions in foreign exchange.
•Amendment
to Section 47
Amends Section 47
to read thus:
Any bank which
contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Decree or any
regulations made thereunder for which an offence or penalty is not expressly
provided is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not less
than N500,000.
•Amendment
to Section 48
Amends Section 48 to read thus:
Notwithstanding the
provisions of this Act or of any law, the Federal High Court shall have
jurisdiction to try any offence under this Act and to impose the full penalty
prescribed therefore.
•Amendment
to Section 50
Amends Section 50
to read thus:
Where a bank is
unable to meet its obligations or suspends payment or where its management and
control has been taken over or where its licence has been revoked pursuant to
the provisions of this Act, the assets of the bank shall first be available to
meet all the deposit liabilities of the bank and such deposit liabilities shall
have priority over all other liabilities of the bank.
•Amendment
to Section 56
Amends Section
56(1) to read thus:
Without prejudice
to the provisions of Part 1 of this Act, no person shall carry on specialised
banking or other financial business in Nigeria other than insurance and capital
market business as defined respectively in the Insurance Act 1997 and the Investment
and Securities Act 1999 except it is a company duly incorporated in Nigeria and
holds a valid licence granted under the provisions of this Act.
Amends Section
56(2) to read thus:
Any person or
institution which before the coming into force of this section was a
specialised bank or carrying on business as other financial institution shall
apply in writing to the Bank for a licence within six months from the date of
commencement of this section.
•Amendment
to Section 57
Amends Section
57(1) to read thus:
Any person wishing
to carry on business as specialised bank or other financial institution other
than insurance and capital market business in Nigeria shall apply in writing to
the Bank for the grant of a licence and shall accompany the application with
the following:
Memorandum and
Articles of Association in the case of a company registered or proposed to be
registered under the Companies and
Allied Matters Act
and in the case of an institution established by an Act of the National
Assembly, a gazetted copy
of the Act establishing the Institution.
•Amendment
to Section 58
Amends Section
58(3) to read thus:
Any person who
fails to comply with paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2) of this section is
guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment not exceeding
three years or to a fine of not less than
N500,000 for each
day during which such failure occurs.
•Amendment
to Section 59
Amends Section
59(1) to read thus:
Notwithstanding the
provisions of any other law or enactment, the Bank shall have power to:
(a) Supervise and
regulate the activities of other financial institutions and specialised banks;
12(b) Prescribe the
minimum paid-up capital requirement of other financial institutions and
specialised banks.
Amends Section
59(2) to read thus:
The Bank may
appoint examiners and any other person to carry out regular routine examination
of the books and affairs of specialised banks and other financial institutions.
Amends Section
59(3) to read thus:
Where the Governor
is satisfied that it is in the public interest so to do, he may, in addition to
the routine or regular examination, order a special examination or
investigation of the books and affairs of any specialised bank or other
financial institution and for that purpose, the Governor shall have power to
appoint one or more qualified persons other than the officers of the Bank to
conduct special examination or investigation, under conditions of
confidentiality, of the books and affairs of such other financial institution
or other specialised bank.
Amends Section
59A(1) to read thus:
Notwithstanding the
powers of the Bank specified in this Act, the Bank shall have power, from time
to time, to examine the books and affairs of:
(a) The Bank of
Industry
(b) The Nigerian
Agricultural Cooperative and Rural
Development Bank;
(c) The Nigerian
Export Import Bank;
(d) The Urban
Development Bank;
(e) The Federal Mortgage Bank of
Nigeria and all primary mortgage institutions;
(f) Community
Banks;
(g) Bureaux de
change;
(h) Discount
houses;
And such other
financial institutions and specialised banks as may be specified from time to
time by the Bank.
Amends Section
59A(2) to read thus:
For the purpose of
implementation of this section, other financial institutions and specialised
banks shall be treated in the same manner as banks with respect to the
requirements of Section 24 of this Act.
Amends Section
5913(1) to read thus:
Where after an
examination under this Act or otherwise howsoever the Bank is satisfied that a
specialised bank or other financial institution is in grave situation, the
Governor may by order in writing exercise anyone or more of the powers
specified in subsection (2) of section 33 of this Act and if after taking such
of the steps stipulated in Section 33 of this Act or such other measures as in
the opinion of the Bank may be appropriate in the circumstance, the state of
affairs of the specialised bank or other financial institution concerned does
not improve, the Bank may turn over the control and management of such
specialised bank or other financial institution to an appointed person on such
terms and conditions as the Bank may stipulate, from time to time.
Add a new
5913(2) with the following words:
If after taking
such steps as specified in subsection (1) of this section as in the opinion of
the Governor may be appropriate in the circumstance, the state of affairs of
the specialised bank or other financial institution concerned does not improve
the Bank shall have power to revoke the licence of such specialised bank or
financial institution.
Add a new 59B(3)
with the following words:
Any specialised
bank or other financial institution whose licence is revoked pursuant to
subsection (2) of this section shall be wound up by a person appointed by the
Bank.
Add a new 59B(4)
with the following words:
The cost and
expenses of the Bank or the remuneration of the person so appointed pursuant to
subsection (1) of this section shall be payable from the fund and property of
the institution concerned.
Add a new 59C
with the following words:
Without prejudice
to the foregoing provisions of this part of the Act, the provisions of Part I
of this Act, including all its offences, penalties and the powers of the Banks
shall apply with such necessary modifications to specialised banks and other
financial institutions and no other person or authority shall as from the
coming into force of this section exercise any regulatory or supervisory
authority over specialised banks and other financial institutions.
Add a new 59D
with the following words:
The Governor may,
with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Bank, by notice published in
the print and electronic media or the Gazette revoke any licence granted under
this Act if a specialised bank or other financial institutions:
(a) Cease to carry
on in Nigeria the type of business for which the licence was issued for any
continuous period of six months or any period aggregating six months during a
continuous period of 12 months.
(b) Goes into
liquidation or is wound up or otherwise dissolved.
(c) Fails to fulfil or comply
with any conditions subject to which the licence was granted.
(d) Has
insufficient assets to meet its liabilities.
(e) Fails to comply with any
obligations imposed upon it by or under this Act or the Central Bank of Nigeria
Act.
Amends Section 59E
to read thus:
Notwithstanding any
of the provisions of this Act, or any other law, the Governor may by notice
published in the print and electronic media or in the Gazette revoke any
licence issued to a specialised bank or other financial institution for the
specialised bank's or other financial institution's failure to comply with any
of the provisions of this Act, the Central Bank of Nigeria Act or any rules,
regulations, guidelines or directive made thereunder or for the breach of any
law dealing with foreign exchange, financial or economic crime.
Amends Section
59F to read thus:
Notwithstanding any
of the provisions of this Act or any other law, the Governor may sanction any
specialised bank or other financial institution for failure to comply with any
of the provisions of this Act, the Central Bank of Nigeria Act or any other law
or rules, regulations, guidelines or directives made thereunder.
(i) Suspension
of any licence issued to any specialised bank or other financial institution
for any period of time as the Bank may prescribe.
(ii) Forfeiture to
the Bank of any pecuniary benefit obtained as a result of the violation or
breach.
Add a new 59G
with the following words:
Notwithstanding any
of the provisions of this Act or any other law, the Governor shall have power
to remove from office any manager, officer or director of a specialised bank or
other financial institution who has contravened any of the provisions of this
Act or the Central Bank of Nigeria
Act or any rules,
regulations, guidelines or directives made thereunder or who has committed any
violation of the rules and regulations of the bank, specialised bank or other
financial institution or who has engaged in any act or conduct that may lead to
financial loss by the specialised bank or other financial institution and in
addition any such officer, manager or director of a specialised bank or other
financial institution may be blacklisted from serving on the board of any
institution or from managing or being employed by any such institution.
•Amendment
to Section 60
Amends Section
60A(I) to read thus:
The Governor may
compound any offence punishable under this Act, the Central Bank of Nigeria
Act, the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Provisions Act or any
other law relating to banking by accepting such sums of money as he thinks fit,
not exceeding the amount of maximum fine to which that person would have been
liable if he or it had been convicted of the offence.
Add a new 60B
with the following words:
The provisions of
this Act shall apply without prejudice to the provisions of the Companies and
Allied Matters Act 1990 in so far as they relate to banks, other financial
institutions and specialised banks and to winding up of such institutions.
Where any of the
provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 is inconsistent with
the provisions of this Act, the provisions of this Act shall prevail.
Add a new 60C
with the following words:
The provision of
this Act shall apply without prejudice to the provisions of the Nigeria Deposit
Insurance Corporation Act, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Act, Primary
Mortgage Institutions Act, Nigeria Agricultural Cooperative and Rural
Development Bank Act, Urban Development Bank Act, and Community Bank Act.
Where any of the
provisions of the above laws is inconsistent with any of the provisions of this
Act, the provisions of this Act shall prevail.
Add a new 60D
with the following words:
The Governor may
exempt any other financial institution or specialised bank from any of the
provisions of this Act.
Add a new 60E
with the following words:
Notwithstanding the
provisions of this Act or of any law and without prejudice to the provisions of
Section 37A, 37B, 59D, 59E, 59F, 59G and 60A of this Act, the Governor may by
notice published in the print and electronic media or in the Gazette reduce or
increase the monetary penalty payable for the contravention of any of the
provisions of this Act.
•Citation
•The Bill may
be citated as Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Amendment) Bill (2004).
