CBN head office in Abuja

The National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) has expressed dissatisfaction with the publication of the names of microfinance banks whose license were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The President of NAMB, Mr Roggers Nwoke, expressed the dissatisfaction in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

The NAMB President said that such publication could lead to a run on banks and besides the association and apex body had reached a consensus to control the publicity.

Nwoke said that some of the banks that got their names published were still active.

NAN reports that apex bank, on Sept.26, gave a notification to revoke operating license of 182 other financial institutions in the country.

According to the list released by the regulator, 154 of the affected institutions are microfinance banks, six are primary mortgage banks, while the remaining 22 are finance companies.

According to CBN, 62 of the microfinance banks have already closed shop, 74 became insolvent, 16 were terminally distressed, while six were voluntarily liquidated.

The NAMB boss said that association was not happy with the development, adding that some microfinance banks that had closed shop for two years could not claim to be in operation.

“However, the paramount issue here is that most banks the CBN claimed to be insolvent have injected capital and back to business fully.” he said.

He said the assocation would immediately embark on dialogue with the apex body to effect necessary corrections.

“Some of the microfinance banks that got their license revoked are Allover Microfinance Bank, Citigate Microfinance Bank, Broadview Microfinance Bank, Century Microfinance Bank and Chat Microfinance Bank, among others.