Nigeria’s biggest bank by assets, Access Bank, paid a total of N464.23 million in fines in 2020, for contraventions of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act of Nigeria and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) circulars.

Data from the bank’s financial statements show that the fines were paid principally to the CBN and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

A sum of N220 million was paid to the CBN on 28th February 2020 in respect of sourcing for FX from the Nigerian FX market for the importation of Textile, while a sum of N57 million was paid on the 2nd of March 2020, in respect of failure to comply with the CBNs AML/CFT review for the period of April 2018-March 2019.

Further sums of N42.8million were paid on 5th February 2020 in respect of failure to comply with the CBNs AML/CFT regulations and KYC policies in a transaction, N2.2 million to the NSE on 27 January 2020, in respect of failure to obtain Exchange’s (NSE) approval prior to announcement of Notice of Meeting of Board of Directors of the Bank, and sum of N1 million to CBN in July 2021, in respect of operating a Tier 3 account without valid means of Identification.

Access Bank also paid N10 million to the CBN in respect of inadequate KYC and KYCB and filing STR relating to IBSmartify Nigeria, and N131.23 million in respect of contravention of CBN FOREX manual and TED ACT.

The CBN has come out with increasingly complex regulations relating to foreign exchange management in recent years of which banks regularly fall afoul of.