CBN Unveils Banks With Highest Lending Rates

• CBN Unveils Banks With Lowest, Highest Lending Rates

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday unveiled the list of banks with the lowest and the highest lending rates, and called for transparency in the bank rates, The Cable disclosed.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank had called on the banks to publish their lending rates once a week to drive transparency and competition between the lenders.

“In furtherance of the transparency and full disclosure stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Monetary Policy Committee has decided that henceforth the lending rates obtainable in all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) be made public to guide business decisions,” CBN said in its publication.

“The rates will be published every Wednesday in some selected national Newspapers. The rates will also be available on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

In the release, CBN unveiled the applicable rates for each of the deposit money banks (DMBs) as at 30/09/2016, showing the lowest and the highest rates from the 24 lenders.

The document showed that Skye Bank, Keystone Bank, Unity Bank and Wema Bank had the highest lending rates, around 30 percent to 31 percent on the maximum.

Citi Bank, Coronation Merchant Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, and Rand Merchant Bank, paraded the lowest interest rates, between 20 percent and 22 percent on the maximum.

United Bank for Africa (UBA), Skye Bank, Access Bank, FCMB, Fidelity Bank, First Bank of Nigeria, Sterling Bank, and Wema Bank, were all cited to have loan facilities with a single interest rate for agriculture.

The rates are known to change from time to time, especially with movement in benchmark interest rate fixed by the CBN.