The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has fined three commercial banks N800 million for allowing cryptocurrency transactions in the country. The banks
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has fined three commercial banks N800 million for allowing cryptocurrency transactions in the country.
The banks fined are; Access Bank Plc, Stanbic Bank, and United Bank for Africa.
The fines by the apex bank are part of the CBN’s effort to enforce its decision to ban cryptocurrency transactions from the official banking system.
According to Bloomberg, the sanctions are part of the CBN’s efforts to tighten down on cryptocurrency, ensuring that commercial restrictions on cryptocurrency trading are in place.
It was also revealed that the CBN has the ability to detect cryptocurrency transactions that commercial banks may have overlooked.
The apex bank had in a circular last year stopped all commercial banks from executing cryptocurrency transactions in Nigeria. It ordered banks to close accounts of both individuals and companies with crypto-related transactions.
Access Bank Plc was fined N500m for not closing customers’ crypto accounts since 2021.
United Bank for Africa Plc was also fined N100m over digital-currency transactions by a customer.
Stanbic IBTC Bank, a unit of the Standard Bank Group Ltd. was fined N200m($478,595) for alleged crypto transactions traced to two accounts, the Chief Executive Officer, Wole Adeniyi said.
The CEO claimed the transaction may have passed its system unindicated.
“It doesn’t seem that they are going to entertain a refund, but they are now sharing intelligence with us to be able to kind of deter clients,” he said.
