CBN Seeks Power To Freeze Criminals’ Accounts
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has requested statutory powers to freeze accounts linked to criminals in the country.
These positions were advanced, in Abuja, Wednesday, at the Senate Committee Public Hearing on its Bill for an Act to Repeal the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2004 and re-enact the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020.
Mr Kofo Salam-Alada, CBN’s Director Legal Services, in his presentation told the lawmakers said that the 2004 BOFIA provided for the CBN Governor “to apply to the court for orders to freeze accounts which are deemed to be linked with criminal and other civil infractions.”
He noted, however, that in the new Bill, which has passed through the First and Second Readings, that provision was omitted, entirely.
“This omission he told the Senate “erodes the powers of the CBN and creates a huge gap in the regulatory and resolution framework. Therefore, we propose that the extant provisions should be reinstated,” Mr Salam-Alada pointed out.
On the Creation of Credit Tribunal, the director defended the position of the CBN, as according to him, such a tribunal would greatly enhance loan recovery in the nation’s banking industry.
“As part of measures to address the role of non-performing loans, we propose the creation of a Credit Tribunal.
The overarching objective is to create an efficient regime for the recovery of eligible loans of banks and Other Financial Institutions (OFls) and enforcement of rights over collateral securities,” the director said.
On Dormant Accounts in banks, the CBN called for the inclusion of provisions to improve the administration of such accounts, adding, “such provisions should address such requirements as the criteria for determining dormancy, the processes for managing the funds in dormant accounts and procedure for reclaiming funds by beneficiaries.”
The apex bank called the inclusion in the Bill, statutory powers of the CBN to intervene in the process of managing a failing bank and bringing it back to sound financial health were possible.
The CBN urged a review of the framework for managing failing institutions in line with international standards to properly delineate roles for the agency tasked with managing failing banks and other financial institutions and those with responsibility for resolving banks and other financial institutions whose license has been revoked.
“In other words, the Central Bank of Nigeria does the former as provided in the BOFIA while NDIC is saddled with the latter under the NDIC Act.
The global best practice is to have the banking legislation empower the Financial services industry regulator to regulate banks, promote their soundness and stability superintend issuance and revocation of operating licence without recourse to any other institution; while the Deposit insurer is in charge of bank resolution activities after the revocation of the operating licence,” the director said.
Mr Salam-Alada added: “There is a need to expand the options available to the CBN to resolve failing banks and manage the systemic crisis without recourse to the public treasury. In line with international best practices, we recommend the establishment of a resolution fund to pool resources for managing banking sector distress.
“We also recommend the adoption of additional resolution tools such as bail-in (ensuring that losses are absorbed by shareholders and creditors), sale of the business (allowing the resolution authority to sell all or part of the failing bank to a private acquirer) and asset separation (isolating the “bad” assets of the bank in an asset management vehicle for an orderly wind-down, if immediate liquidation is not justified in current market conditions).
“Several new types of licensed institutions have entered the Nigerian Financial Services sector since the enactment of the 1991 Act. These include the non-interest banks, credit bureaux, payment system service providers, among others. There is a compelling need to introduce new provisions in the Bill to address the unique peculiarities of these institutions.”
