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CBN Issues Strong Warning to Bank CEOs Over Unpublished Financial Statements

Published by admin on September 18th, 2024.

CBN Issues Strong Warning to Bank CEOs Over Unpublished Financial Statements

Yemi Cardoso

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is taking a firm stance against bank Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and chairmen who fail to publish their annual financial statements within 12 months of the fiscal year-end. The CBN has directed that such officials should be dismissed immediately.

This directive is part of the CBN’s Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade, and Exchange Policy Guidelines for 2024-2025, recently made available on its website.

While this warning raises concerns, the likelihood of widespread non-compliance appears low, as most banks in Nigeria, being publicly listed, maintain high standards of corporate governance. Current stock market regulations require these banks to submit their audited financial reports within 90 days of the financial year-end or within 30 days after each quarter.

In its guidelines, the CBN referenced the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, which mandates that banks publish their audited financial statements within three months after the end of the financial year, with these documents appearing in two national newspapers distributed in Nigeria.

To ensure consistency in reporting, all banks and their subsidiaries must adopt December 31 as their accounting year-end. The CBN stated, “The Board Chairman and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of any bank failing to comply will be held accountable for any breaches, facing penalties that may include exclusion from the Bankers’ Committee and suspension of foreign exchange dealership licenses. If financial statements remain unpublished after 12 months, the Chairman and MD/CEO may be removed from their positions.”