Recently the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) rolled out a new foreign exchange policy which requires banks to sell dollars to customers within 24hours. The CBN also laid out a guideline the process workflow; but the constant lack of adherence to compliance has lead the apex bank to equally introduce control measures such as issuing a dedicated phone number to report banks not in compliance as well as sending out mystery shoppers.
Banks are also not in compliant to standard requirements, external regulatory statutes in the operations of most financial institutions in the country is responsible for the incessant fraud in the system.
A publication by the Nationonline.com also agrees with the above submission, the report reads:
Making this submission at the weekend was a cross-section of experts.
The event was at a workshop organised for compliance officers of deposit money banks, held in Lagos.
Speaking at the occasion, a board member/trustee of the Compliance Institute of Nigeria (CIN) Mr. Wumi Adeniyi said both the government and captains of industries with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), especially as the apex bank that regulates Banking and the Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), coordinate data and financial analytics, to work with the institute to help in the prevention, detection and control of money laundering, as well as combating terrorism.”
The event also coincided with examination exercise for the compliance officers of banks and other financial institutions.
The President/Chairman, CIN, Pattison Boleigha, said about 130 persons wrote the examination.
He said, “It is a continuation of the programme we started about a week ago, where we had trainings in various aspects of compliance and today, we are capping it up with certification examinations for the award of Designate Compliance Officers. We are also using this opportunity to grandfather existing compliance professionals.”
Boleigha said the minimum educational qualification for those writing the exam was a graduate degree of either HND or BSc.
He stated that it was considering those who had worked in the compliance field but don’t have either HND or BSc basic qualifications, as they could still be grandfathered.
The president, however, noted that at the end of the current process, anyone who did not take advantage of the process will have to write the examination of the institute in future.
“Though this batch is those available to take the examination, we have 20 persons who we will grandfather today out of about 60 persons who applied to do the grandfathering,” he said.
Director of Membership, Mrs. Oluyemisi Olukoya, said the CIN was set up by the Committee of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria, basically to set the right tone for compliance in the country.
“Compliance should be part of an organisation which is what we are trying to entrench, to guide them in the daily work in the offices, to ensure they are doing the proper things in their organisations,” Olukoya said.
Also speaking at the event, Pattison Boleigha said, “Our goal is not just to ensure that banks stay out of trouble, but to ensure improvement in service delivery and create competitive environment for sanity, thereby presenting the organisations as credible and responsible corporate citizen to the world.
“For the first time in Nigeria, we have trained and engaged a set of people that will operate differently from the way banks used to do things, particularly when it comes to complying with rules and regulations and our internal policies.”
Other facilitators at the event included Mr. Obafemi Oyenuga, a board member/trustee of the institute; Mrs. Oluyemisi Olukoya, Principal Partner, Oluyemisi Olukoya and Co. and Head, Regional and Subsidiary Compliance, Diamond Bank, Mrs. Isioma Gogo-Anazodo.
The fight against corruption has suffered many setbacks thanks to poor compliance by Nigerian banks to regulatory policies especially against money laundry. The CBN and the anti graft agencies should beam their searchlights on banks to ensure strict compliance which will go a long way in combating money laundry and financial crimes in the country.
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