CBN Approves Five Banking Licences

• CBN Approves Five Banking Licences

The Central Bank of Nigeria has approved five new banks, according to banking sources.

The sources said the apex bank is being driven by the need to expand the banking sector through new investments and the importance of bringing the over 50 million unbanked and under-banked Nigerians on board.

The new banks plan to begin operations by the second half of the year, however, only details of two were given by the sources.

One of the new banks, “Globus” is being spearheaded by a former Executive Director of a Tier I bank, Elias Igbinakenzua.

“The Bank (Globus), whose head office is on Sanusi Fafunwa, Victoria Island, may open by May 2nd,” one of the sources said.

The second bank, ‘Titan’, would be managed by a former Heritage bank executive director.

“Another owner of one of the new banks is said to be Indian – the former owner of Chi Limited who recently sold a majority stake to Coca Cola – and the initial strategy would be to target large Indian and Lebanese clients with investments in Nigeria especially in the Manufacturing and other sectors,” sources said.

The other three approved banks remain largely anonymous but would be a mixe of Merchant, Micro-finance and deposit money banks, according to the sources.

Isaac Okarafor, CBN spokesperson, did not respond or return calls seeking comment on the five new approved banks.