The Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday wielded the big stick on 16 Deposit Money Banks as it stopped them from participating in the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises window of the foreign exchange market.
The apex bank said this in a statement issued by its Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Isaac Okorafor.
import critical materials for their operations.
The CBN explained in the statement that based on field reports, only eight banks had sold forex to the SMEs segment since the inception of the new window.
The apex bank noted that only the eight banks would be allowed to access forex in that segment of the financial market henceforth.
The banks are Access Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Heritage Bank, Jaiz Bank, Sterling Bank, Unity Bank and Zenith Bank Plc.
The CBN said all the other 16 banks that had refused to sell forex to small businesses after accessing over $300m offered to the SMEs’ wholesale forex window since its creation last month would be sanctioned accordingly.
