CBN Orders Banks to Reject Liquidated Banks’ Cheques

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The Citizen

The Central Bank of Nigeria has barred banks from processing instruments bearing names of acquired or legacy banks.
The directive came into effect on Wednesday, the first workday in 2013.
Banking and Payment System director, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dapo Fatokun, said  in a statement that bank that flout the directive would be sanctioned.
THE CITIZEN investigations showed that most of the merger institutions have long stopped the use of legacy documents in their operations.
What most of the banks that were involved in one of combination or the other are still battling is how to achieve seamless internal and external system linkages.
Banks whose instruments are referred to here are those who have been swallowed up in a combination arrangement or those whose names were changed after they were acquired by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).
They include Afribank Plc, Bank PHB Plc, FinBank Plc, ETB Bank Limited, Oceanic Bank Plc and Spring Bank.
The statement reads: “The Central Bank of Nigeria has noted with concern, the prevalence of legacy/liquidated banks’ financial instruments being processed and cleared for settlement in various clearing houses.
“This development is unacceptable and should be discouraged forthwith. The deposit money banks are advised to stop issuance and circulation of legacy/liquidated banks’ financial instruments in our clearing system particularly as we have migrated to Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number.”