November 12, 2018
By Investdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has fined mid-tier lenders Unity Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc and six other banks a total of N102.7 million for late rendition of their financial statements as at when due.
A review of data on the NSE’s website shows that Unity Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc were hit with the heaviest fines of N80.2 million and N7.3 million respectively.
A breakdown of this shows that in 2018, Unity Bank was fined N200,000, N9.8 million, N29 million and N40.7 million respectively, the mid tier lender had an outstanding fine of N500,000 from 2017 for late rendition of its audited 2016 financial statement.
On its part, Diamond Bank as the second highest sanctioned bank has a N7.3 million fine, the lender had an outstanding fine of N2.4 million from 2017, added to the N3.8 million and N1.1 million fines it received at different times this year.
In the third place is Fidelity Bank Plc with a fine of N6.2 million and a carried forward amount of N700,000 from 2017.
The fourth place is Union Bank of Nigeria Plc fined N4.7 million for late filing of its audited 2017 and first quarter 2018 financial statements, FBN Holdings Plc was fined N2.1 million for late filing of its audited 2017 financial statements.
Sterling Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, and First City Monument Bank Plc were hit with N1.3 million, N800,000, and N100,000 fines respectively for late filing of their audited 2017 financial statements; totaling N102.7 million in the review period.
The NSE on January 1, 2018 came up new rules and said it will sanction companies for late filing of results with fines ranging from N100, 000 to over N100 million as penalties for delay in the submission of their financial reports.
According to the NSE, under the new rule, quoted companies are expected to file their unaudited quarterly accounts not later than 30 calendar days after the relevant quarter.
Also, the account is expected to be published within five business days after the date of filing in at least two national daily newspapers, and post it on the company’s website, with the web address disclosed in the newspaper publication.
The rule states that late submission of accounts by quoted companies will attract N9 million in the first 90 days, N18 million in the next 90 days and N400, 000 per day until the date of submission.
NSE says that sanctions are in accordance with the Rules for Filing of Accounts and Treatment of Default Filing, Rulebook of The Exchange (Issuers’ Rules).