A total of N216.11 billion from 26 banks was withdrawn by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in compliance with the 27.5 per cent Cash Reserves Requirement (CRR). Data available to us showed that luck was however on the side of three other commercial lenders, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Jaiz Bank and TAJ Bank that escaped the CRR hammer as they were not debited with any amount.
The debiting took place ahead of the sales of dollars by the CBN on the domestic foreign exchange market, where commercial lenders bids on behalf of their customers.
Six of the banks debited accounted for 63.52 per cent of the total amount withdrawn from the banking system on Friday, with Zenith Bank vault depleted by N46.27 billion, the highest debit by the regulatory bank.
The other lenders that were debited the heaviest are Stanbic IBTC with N30 billion, Guaranty Trust Bank cough out N25 billion, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) N15 billion, Citibank N11 billion while Standard Chartered bank was debited N10 billion.
