Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the list of licenced Deposit Money Banks operating in the country.

Providing insights into the banking landscape in Nigeria, the list was made public on the CBN’s official website.

Banks with international authorisation include Access Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Limited, First Bank Nigeria Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, United Bank of Africa Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc.

Commercial banks with national authorisation include Citibank Nigeria Limited, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Heritage Bank Plc, Globus Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited, Polaris Bank Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Sterling Bank Limited, Titan Trust Bank Limited, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Premium Trust Bank Limited and Optimus Bank Limited.

Commercial banks with regional licences are Providus Bank Limited, Parallex Bank Limited, Suntrust Bank Nigeria Limited, and Signature Bank Limited.

Players in the non-interest banking sector with national authorisation include Jaiz Bank Plc, Taj Bank Limited, Lotus Bank Limited, and Alternative Bank Limited.

In the merchant banking category, the apex banks listed, are Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, FBN Merchant Bank Limited, FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Greenwich Merchant Bank Limited, Nova Merchant Bank Limited, and Rand Merchant Bank Limited.

The financial holding companies listed were Access Holdings Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, FCMB Group Plc, FSDH Holding Company Limited, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, and Sterling Financial Holdings Limited.

The Mauritius Commercial Bank Representative Office (Nigeria) Limited was listed as the sole representative office.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that it will prohibit person-to-person (P2P) cryptocurrency trading in the Naira, aiming to safeguard its local currency from further depreciation and market manipulation.

This decision comes amidst concerns over the manipulation of the naira’s exchange rate by speculators operating within the P2P crypto trading sector.

Emomotimi Agama, director general, SEC,  disclosed during a meeting with fintech professionals that new regulations targeted at crypto exchanges, digital asset custodians, and other sectors of the cryptocurrency industry would be introduced shortly.

The upcoming regulatory changes come amid growing concerns over the impact of cryptocurrency on the naira’s exchange rate.

Despite these developments, Agama expressed openness to dialogue with industry stakeholders.

He stressed the importance of cooperation in implementing new regulations to safeguard the crypto space.

Agama’s proactive engagement aims to reassure stakeholders unsettled by recent events, including crackdowns on global cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance.

SEC move to ‘delist’ the local currency is part of broader efforts to regulate the crypto industry. Nigeria’s decision reflects a broader global debate about how to regulate cryptocurrencies effectively.

Finding the right balance between oversight and innovation will be key to shaping a healthy crypto ecosystem that benefits everyone.

The aim is to stop people from manipulating the naira’s value.

While this sounds good, some worry it could limit access to cryptocurrencies for everyday Nigerians who rely on these platforms.

Balancing regulation and innovation is tricky. Regulation is important to protect people and ensure fair markets.

But it’s also important not to stifle new ideas. Cryptocurrencies offer new ways of doing things and can help people financially.

The challenge is to make rules that encourage this while also dealing with problems like fraud.

Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms has recommended an upward review of the Value Added Tax (VAT) from the present 7.5 per cent.

Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the committee, also suggested that the VAT revenue sharing formula should be reviewed.

He spoke at a policy exposure and impact assessment session organised by the committee, according to reports.

The proposal is coming amid opposition to several new taxes and levies like the 0.5 per cent for cybersecurity and stamp duty on mortgage loans experts, chambers of commerce and the organised labour say will create additional burden on Nigerians and the businesses which are struggling to survive.

But Oyedele allayed the fears over the impending review, saying it would not affect the poor and small business owners.

While it was not clear the percentage of the proposed increase, 7.5 per cent is currently paid as VAT.

The federal government had increased VAT from five per cent to 7.5 per cent in February, 2020, following the passage of the 2020 Finance Act.

He further said, “Nigeria’s economy is more than 50 per cent in services, and if I just stop at this, many states will be broke because VAT collection will go down by more than 50 per cent, and it won’t even fly.

“Therefore, we need to adjust the VAT rate upward. We would ensure that it doesn’t affect businesses. The only thing is to look at basic consumption from food, education, medical services and accommodation will carry zero per cent VAT. So, for the poor and small businesses, no VAT.

“We have spoken to businesses about it and they won’t increase the products’ prices. We want to make sure when we do VAT reform, no one will increase the price of commodities. We will work the mathematics with the private sector.”

The committee, Oyedele added, had also proposed a review of the state and local governments’ share of VAT revenue to 90 per cent, as well as reducing the federal government’s share from 15 per cent to 10 per cent.

Section 40 of the VAT Act provides that the federal government gets 15 per cent, states share 50 per cent and local governments share the balance of 35 per cent.

He added that, “We are proposing that the federal government’s portion should be reduced from 15 per cent to 10 per cent. States’ portion will be increased, but they would share 90 per cent with local governments.”

He explained that the proposed adjustment of the sharing formula in favour of states was due to the fact that VAT was a tax of the states.

He said. “In 1986, we had sales tax collected by states. The military came up with VAT in 1993 and stopped sales tax, so they said it would collect VAT and return 15 per cent as cost of collection, and that was how the 15 per cent charged today came about. But we think it is too much.”