By Kamil Opeyemi
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has apologised to Nigerians for the rise in failed electronic banking transactions.
Emefiele, tendered his apology at the end of the two-day monetary policy committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
While assuring Nigerians that the issue will be resolved quickly, Emefiele
said the apex’s bank payments system management department made efforts to ensure that downtime on electronic banking channels are addressed following a terrible time experienced by Nigerians through their mobile apps, USSD platforms and debit cards since the implementation of the naira redesign policy and subsequent cash shortage.
“We must apologise. Yes, online channels fail. But no doubt it is as a result of the deluge of the volume of online transactions that hit the banking industry. But I think it is currently being resolved.
“On a daily basis, our payments system management department monitor the online payment platforms so as to make sure that when there is a downtime, they are quickly resolved so that transactions can go on smoothly,” Emefiele said
During the briefing, the CBN boss also spoke on the supply of money in the country, stating that the implementation of the naira redesign policy has resulted in a reduction in currency outside the banks.
“Before the naira redesign, we said that there was about N3.23 trillion in circulation out of which only N500 billion was held in the banking system and N2.73 trillion was outside the banking system,” the CBN governor said.
“It was published yesterday that currency in circulation is close to N1 trillion. CBN will continue to pump the newly redesigned currency into the market.
“The truth is that at some point we will need to reassess to know whether the currency in circulation has attained an optimal level so as to put in place measures to ensure that we don’t go back to where we have before where people kept money outside the banking system for their own benefits,” he added.
Responding to questions on the soundness of Nigerian banks in the wake of several banks collapse in the United States of America, Emefiele said Nigerian banks had zero exposure to the failed banks in the USA.
As a result, he assured that all Nigerian banks are safe and sound thanks to the existing prudential guidelines instituted by the CBN to protect banks against collapse that will wipe out depositors’ money.
According to Emefiele, “no depositor has lost one kobo since 2008 from bank crisis because of the prudential guidelines put in place to protect depositors fund.”
He also warned bank shareholders to mindful of the fact that “banking licence is a privilege not a right it can be withdrawn if shareholders misbehave.
“We would rather dispense with the shareholders than put depositors money at risk.”
At the end of the MPC meeting, it agreed to increase Monetary Policy Rate to 18 percent from previous 17.5 percent adopted in January