More Nigerian banks will soon commence effective offshore operations to actualise the licence granted them by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to establish offshore subsidiaries.
Data from the CBN website showed that eight deposit money banks are licensed to operate outside the country.
These include United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, Access Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank Others are First Bank Nigeria Limited, Union Bank and First City Monument Bank (FCMB).
Although the approval had been granted long before now, only five of the benefitting banks have established effective international subsidiaries. These are:
United Bank for Africa (UBA), also known as Africa’s Global Bank, has effective presence in many African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.
Zenith Bank operates in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and the United Kingdom, while Fidelity Bank has a presence in Ghana.
Access Bank has established subsidiaries in the following African countries: Ghana, Rwanda, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the latest Kenya.
Guaranty Trust Bank has subsidiaries in Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
In recent times, deposit money banks have been working on upgrading their licenses to holding companies and expanding their operations outside Nigeria. Industry experts say that the banks which are yet to establish offshore presence will commence soon.
The licenses under which these banks operate vary, with some banks having national or regional licenses and others serving as merchant banks.
The apex bank also provided a breakdown of the type of licenses the banks were granted and areas of operation nationally and regionally
In recent months banks have been working on upgrading their licenses and expanding their operations
The following banks are licensed by the CBN for national operations:
Standard Chartered Bank, Sterling Bank, Titan Trust Bank, Unity Bank, and Wema Bank. Others include Citibank Ecobank Nigeria, Heritage Bank and Keystone Bank. Polaris Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank are also in this category.
On the other hand, Globus Bank, SunTrust Bank, Providus Bank, Parallex Bank and Premium Trust Bank have lincences with regional authorisation.
The apex bank also issued national authorisation for non-interest banking to Jaiz Bank while Taj Bank and Lotus Bank have non-interest banking licence for regional operations.
The following are licensed Merchant Banks for regional operation. Coronation Merchant Bank, FBN Merchant Bank and FSDH Merchant Bank. Rand Merchant Bank, Nova Merchant Bank and Greenwich Merchant Bank belong to this category.
There are not less than 33 licensed banks operating in different categories in Nigeria.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
