Nigeria suspends foreign exchange trading of nine banks

As Nigeria continues to deal with its economic crisis brought on by the falling price of oil on the global market, nine of its banks have been barred from the foreign exchange market.

This is according to local media who say the banks failed to return over $2 billion deposits belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the federal government’s Treasury Single Account.

The suspension will remain in force until they remit the funds.

Meanwhile, the central bank is also expected to impose fines on the affected banks for the failed payments.

The nine banks are expected to remit the missing funds to the government before they are allowed to resume foreign exchange trading.

They include the United Bank of Africa, First Bank of Nigeria, Diamond Bank, Sterling Bank, Skye Bank, Fidelity Bank, Keystone Bank, First City Monument Bank and the Heritage Bank Limited.

However, officials of the banks explain that the remittances were delayed by the dollar illiquidity in the system.