Nigeria's apex regulatory bank, The Central Bank of Nigeria or CBN revoked the licences of 139 microfinance banks operating in the country.
The CBN also revoked the licences of four primary mortgage banks and three finance companies.
This was disclosed in the official gazette of the Federal Government, which was published on the website of the CBN on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
According to the Gazette, the operating licences were revoked for various reasons including the fact that the businesses moved away from operating the specific type of business they were licenced for and non-operation continuously for a period of six months.
The CBN said that the banks “failed to fulfil or adhere to the terms and conditions with which their license was granted; or refused to comply with the duties placed on them by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the provisions of the other Financial Institutions Act ( BOFIA) 2020, Act No.5.”
The four primary mortgage banks whose licenses were revoked are Resort Savings & Loans, Safetrust Mortgage Bank, Adamawa Savings & Loans, and Kogi Savings & Loans.
The Finance companies whose licenses were revoked include HHL Invest & Trust Limited, TFS Finance Limited and Treasures & Trust Limited.
Meanwhile, some of the microfinance banks listed include Bluewhales Microfinance Bank, Igangan Microfinance Bank, Mainsail Microfinance Bank, Everest Microfinance Bank, Merit Microfinance Bank, Musharaka Microfinance Bank, Nopov Microfinance Bank, among others.
