Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed that 14 banks have fully met the new capital requirements under the ongoing recapitalisation exercise.
Cardoso disclosed this on Tuesday while presenting the communiqué of the 302nd Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
He explained that the recapitalisation exercise, which sets new minimum thresholds depending on licence type, is making significant progress, with more banks expected to comply before the deadline.
Under the new structure, commercial banks with international licences must now have ₦500 billion capital, while those with national and regional authorisations require ₦200 billion and ₦50 billion respectively. Merchant banks must maintain ₦50 billion, national non-interest banks ₦20 billion, and regional non-interest banks ₦10 billion.
Cardoso also announced a 50 basis points reduction in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 27%, the first cut in three years, citing five consecutive months of disinflation and projections of lower inflation for the rest of 2025.
Other policy adjustments include:
Standing facilities corridor at +250/-250 basis points around the MPR.
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks reduced from 50% to 45%.
CRR for merchant banks retained at 16%.
A new 75% CRR on non-TSA public sector deposits to curb excess liquidity.
Liquidity ratio kept unchanged at 30%.
Cardoso expressed satisfaction with “prevailing macroeconomic stability,” highlighting sustained disinflation, stable exchange rates, robust external reserves at $43.05 billion as of September 11, and a current account surplus of $5.28 billion in Q2 2025.
He stressed that while inflation has moderated, excess liquidity in the banking system remains a risk to stability.
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