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Bankers lobby for N10bn capital base
Chijama Ogbu, Sam Akpe and Babatunde Oke
Bankers may have begun moves to bring down the minimum capitalisation requirement of N25 billion announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria about a fortnight ago to N10 billion.
Besides, they want the apex bank to extend the deadline for the recapitalisation from 18 months to three years.
Sources told our correspondents that the bankers were lobbying the members of the National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council to prevail on the CBN to lower the requirements.
The banks' chief executives forum at their meeting under the aegis of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria immediately after the CBN announcement set up a 10-man technical committee to evaluate the requirement, articulate a common stand and proffer a way forward.
One agreement reached at the meeting was for the bankers to on the issue in order not to send discordant signals to the public on their stand on the CBN's pronouncement.
The committee, it was also learnt, will submit its report to the bankers' forum at a meeting that will hold in Lagos on Tuesday.
But ahead of the meeting, the bankers are believed to have started lobbying the National Assembly members to intervene to bring down the minimum capital requirement to N10 billion or at most N15 billion.
The bankers are said to be exploring the strong links between some of the banks' chief executives with key leadership of the Senate to force down the requirement.
They are said to be drumming up the likely job losses and capital flight that could occur if the proposed policy were to be carried through as the reasons why the N25 billion requirements should be reviewed downwards.
The Chief Operating Officer of Liberty Bank Plc., Mr. Lawson Omokhodion, also unfolded on the thinking of the bankers when he told our correspondents in an interview on Friday that the chief executives would be making their decisions known by this week.
He said that their decisions would be discussed with the governor of the CBN, saying that the hope was that it would have an impact on the final position of the apex bank.
But while some banks continue to complain about the CBN's announcement, some others see it as a step in the right direction.
The Acting Managing Director of Allstates Trust Bank, Mr. Ebibomo Timimi, told journalists in Lagos on Friday that the new capital base requirement was one of the best thing to happen to Nigeria�s financial system.
He said that Nigeria could not claim to be truly a giant of Africa with the kind of banks that currently operate in the system.
He said that the banks should be well primed to finance such projects as bridges, railways, roads, real estates and other capital-intensive projects.
Meanwhile, the CBN Governor, Prof Charles Soludo, will on Monday meet the Senate on the proposed increase on the paid up capital for banks.
It is expected that depending on the strength or weakness of his argument, the upper legislative chamber may invoke certain constitutional provisions to support the increase or ask for a reduction.
The CBN governor had earlier met with the same committee in the House of Representatives at a closed-door session during which members were said to have expressed support for the proposed capital base.
The outcome of the meeting is certain to be closely watched by workers in the finance industry who have threatened to protest the CBN policy.
The position of the unions is at variance with that of the Nigeria Labour Congress, which supports the recapitalisation step as a way of sanitising the banking industry.
In a letter dated July 13 and addressed to the President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, the workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees, stated that they were prepared to embark on strike if the dialogue between the CIBN and the government failed to protest the policy.
The Punch, Monday July 19, 2004
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