The Central Bank of Nigeria has revoked the operating licences of 182 finance institutions in the country, which were found dormant or inactive..
The notice to this effect is contained in the banking sector regulator’s website.
The CBN had last week revoked the licence of Skye Bank and approved that of a bridge bank to secure customers’ deposits.
154 microfinance banks, six primary mortgage banks and 22 finance companies would be affected.
The bank said it was withdrawing the licences of 62 microfinance banks which had already “closed shop, another 74 which are “insolvent”, and another 12 which “terminally distressed.
The bank said that the remaining six were “voluntarily liquidated”.
It said Ahocol Savings and Loans Limited, owned by the Anambra state government, closed shop while Trans Atlantic Savings and Loans Limited, owned by the Bayelsa state government, became insolvent.
From the 22 finance companies, eight voluntary liquidated and 13 could not recapitalise and the last one became insolvent.
In the last nine years, microfinance banks have been prone to distress and failures, with a high number of those operating with unit licences becoming technically insolvent or inactive.
Data made available by the CBN showed that 1028 microfinance banks are authorised to operate in the country and 20 of this figure have had their operating licences approved by the apex bank.
