The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled new minimum capital requirements for banks and pegged the minimum capital base for commercial banks with international authorisation at N500 billion.
Th banks also have 24 months commencing from April 1, 2024, and terminating on March 31, 2026 to meet the minimum capital requirement.
This was contained in a circular signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa, to all commercial, merchant, and non-interest banks and promoters of proposed banks.
CBN spokesperson, Hakama Sidi Ali, also confirmed the development in Abuja on Thursday.
According to Ali, the new minimum capital base for commercial banks with national authorisation is now N200 billion, while the new requirement for those with regional authorisation is N50 billion.
The CBN also disclosed that the new minimum capital for merchant banks would be N50 billion, while the new requirements for non-interest banks with national and regional authorisations are N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively.
In a communique at the end of the recently held CBN Monetary Policy Committee meeting, CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, had advised deposit money banks to expedite action on the recapitalisation of their capital base in order to strengthen the financial system.
The last time the CBN increased capital base for banks was in 2005, when the Charles Soludo, was the governor.
The capital base was raised from N2 billion to N25 billion.
