LAGOS—CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has asked banks to submit to it, information on some of their assets and liabilities twice a week, with effect from September 21, 2004 even as a syndicate of international fraudsters is on the prowl in banks across the globe.
This request was made through a circular to all the banks from the Banking Supervision Department of the apex bank. The circular entitled: Submission of Information on Selected Assets/Liabilities Items, with reference BSD/11/2004, dated September 17, 2004 was signed by the Director in charge of the department, Mr Ignatius Imala.
The circular says: “Following recent developments in the banking sector, it has become necessary for all licenced banks to provide information twice weekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays) on selected assets and liabilities items in the attached format. The returns for Tuesdays should capture the balances in your records as at the close of business the previous day i.e. Monday, while the one for Thursdays should report the balances as at the close of business on Wednesdays.”
It further said information required include: Name and address of bank; trends of selected assets/liabilities; month and; date of preparation. Also to be forwarded to the CBN is the type of asset balance as at the particular date, to include: gross fixed assets; net fixed assets; gross loans/advances; net loans/advances; loans to public sector; net of other assets; investments; cash and; short investments. The type of liability to be listed are: Other liabilities; total deposits from the public sector; other deposits and; total deposit liabilities.
Observers say the request by the apex bank may not be unconnected with fears that some banks may have started tampering with their assets/liabilities prior to merging with other banks. The speculations are that while some bankers are doing this to place their banks in vantage positions in case of consolidation, others are trying to recoup as much of their investment as possible before they lose total control in a merger set up.
Fraudsters invade electronic banking
Meanwhile, a syndicate of international fraudsters is on the prowl in banks across the globe. The fraud syndicate working through international network has led many international banks to send red alert to their customers, warning them of possible attempt to defraud their accounts.
Some prominent Nigerian account holders in some of these banks abroad have already fallen victims of the international fraud syndicates.
A publisher of a once promising newspaper is one of the victims. He lost over $150,000 from his account. The matter, it was learnt, is still in court in London as the man has taken the London bank to court for paying out money from his account without his authority.
In the last one week, many of the mega banks have been frantically contacting their customers across the globe, intimating them of attempts to withdraw money from their accounts electronically. The SunTrust Bank (US) on September 20 wrote to all customers, saying: “Recently, there have been a large number of identity theft attempts targeting SunTrust customers. In order to safeguard your account, we require that you confirm your banking details (credit card information and login password for online banking if you have). This process is mandatory and if not completed within the nearest time, your account, credit card may be subject to temporary suspension.”
Similarly on Wednesday, September 22, Citizen Bank (US) writing to all its customers under urgent security notification said: “Technical services of the bank are carrying out a planned software upgrade. We earnestly ask you to visit the following link to start the procedure of confirmation of customers’ data.”
Also alarmed by the trend, Smith Barney, the holding body of the Citi Group, said the technical services of the Smith Barney were carrying out a planned software upgrade. We earnestly ask you to visit the link to start the procedure of confirmation of customers’ data. The statement said this instruction had been sent to all Smith Barney customers and its customer support service.
