898 Microfinance Banks Get CBN’s License
The number of microfinance banks licensed in the country by the Central Bank of Nigeria stood at 898 as of February 13, 2019.
The CBN disclosed this in a list it released on the recognised microfinance banks in the country on Thursday.
Earlier, the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed that the CBN planned to establish a national microfinance bank to create better access to credit.
He explained that the apex bank would collaborate with the Bankers’ Committee and the Nigerian Postal Service to drive the initiative.
Emefiele said the national MFB would leverage the existing NIPOST presence in about 774 local government areas in the country to commence the project.
“We have called on NIPOST and they have agreed to join us in this. They would provide their facilities in 774 local government areas and this would be their own contribution by way of equity into the establishment of the national MFB. We would provide the infrastructure and this MFB would be available in 774 local governments across the nation.”
Emefiele said the proposed MFB would be expected to engage in strategic partnership with NIPOST because of its many locations, while the NIRSAL owned by the CBN would be expected to bring its experience in financing low-income entrepreneurs and de-risking credit originated by the national MFB by providing guarantee in line with its mandate.
Emefiele said the outrageous interest rates microfinance banks in the country were charging would not support the Federal Government’s loans aimed at stimulating local production and boosting non-oil export.
To address some of these challenges, he said, the CBN decided to establish the national microfinance bank to create better access to credit.
“Under the Central Bank, we have the commercial agricultural credit loans scheme; we have N200bn set aside for SMEs. Under the Central Bank and the Bankers’ Committee, we currently have close to N60bn available to fund agriculture and small businesses and yet these monies are lying and not being disbursed.”
He said that more people needed to access the funds and create jobs in the economy.
