By Ademola Alawiye

The Central Bank of Nigeria has started surcharging Deposit Money Banks that have yet to submit their financial results for the year 2010, investigation by our correspondent has revealed.

The Companies and Allied Matters Act stipulates that banks are to present their results six months after the end of the year. However, under CBN rules and regulations, the banks are required to submit the results three months after the end of the financial year.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the apex bank had started surcharging the affected banks for failing to comply with the directive.

A senior official of one of the errant banks told our correspondent in an exclusive interview that the accounts of the banks were being debited on a daily basis.

The source, who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak officially on the issue said, “The CBN daily debits the accounts of banks that have not submitted their results. The CBN removes close to N50,000 from each bank’s account on a daily basis.”

Our correspondent, however, gathered that some of the banks had been excused by the CBN due to challenges they were facing.

It was gathered that those excused were facing technical hurdles in their recapitalisation process.

The Head, Corporate Affairs, CBN, Mr. Mohammed Abdullahi, confirmed the surcharge, saying that the apex bank had started punishing the banks that violated the directive.

Abdullahi said in a telephone interview with our correspondent, “The CBN has a stipulated time for banks to submit their financial results. There is a fine for any bank that breaches the rule. We have started applying sanction on the banks that have yet to submit their results for 2010.

“The fine is between N20,000 and N50,000 daily. We have their accounts and we debit straight from our end, so there is no escape route for any bank that fails to adhere to the directive.”

Some of the banks that have released their results are Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc and First City Monument Bank Plc.

However, none of the rescued banks has released its financial result for the year ended December 31, 2010.

GTBank recorded a profit after tax of N38.34bn for the year ended December 31, 2010, in its result posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange website.

This represents an increase of 62 per cent or N14.6bn on the N23.68bn recorded in the similar period of 2009. Its turnover, however, fell by 5.3 per cent or N8.64bn from N162.55bn in 2009, to N153.91bn in the period under review.

Zenith Bank recorded a profit after tax of N37.41bn in its audited results for the year ended December 31, 2010.

This represents an increase of 82 per cent over the N20.06bn recorded in 2009. Its turnover also fell by 31 per cent or N84.81bn to N192.48bn, down from N277.30bn the preceding year.

Access Bank’s turnover for the year ended December 31, 2010, went up by 7.2 per cent or N6.16bn from N84.98bn in 2009 to N91.14bn, while its profit after tax stood at N11.07bn from a loss position of N4.40bn in 2009.

The CBN had directed banks to adopt a uniform financial year end in order to improve the integrity and comparability of financial reports in the industry, adding that the move would also restore public confidence in the banking industry.

The uniform financial year end policy was initially scheduled to commence in December 2008. But the former Governor of the CBN, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, who introduced the policy, had to shift its implementation to December 2009, after was blamed for the crisis that engulfed the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

In a circular, which was signed by the Director, Banking Supervision, CBN, Mr. Samuel Oni, the apex bank had enjoined banks and discount houses to adopt the new reporting format and ensure that published annual financial statements contained the specified minimum information with immediate effect.

The new reporting guidelines demanded that banks should reveal their total loan portfolio, the sector of the economy that the loans went to, their liquidity status, as well as their level of non-performing loans.

 

Source: Punch