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Thursday 6 September 2018

Nigeria Cenbank debits Standard Chartered, Citibank 3.6 bln naira fines for illegally transfer funds for MTN

The Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) has debited Standard Chartered Bank 2.4 billion naira and 1.2 billion naira from Citigroup after it fined the lenders for helping South Africa’s telecoms firm MTN to transfer funds abroad, two sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The central bank normally debits the account of banks when it imposes a fine or to implement aspects of its monetary policies such as cash reserve requirements.
Standard Chartered, alongside Citibank, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Diamond Bank, was fined last week after the central bank said it moved a total of $8.1 billion abroad with improper certificates for telecoms giant MTN.
Standard Chartered has denied any wrongdoing.
Citibank said in a statement it has sent a detailed response to the central bank addressing the allegations after the U.S. bank had received a letter imposing sanctions on it.
Nigeria’s central bank fined Standard Chartered, Citibank, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Diamond Bank, for allegedly failing to verify that MTN had met all its foreign exchange rules.
Stanbic IBTC Bank, the local unit of South Africa’s Standard Bank, was fined 1.8 billion naira and Diamond Bank 250 million naira.
Stanbic said in a statement on Thursday that it had been debited by the central bank for the fine.
Standard Bank said in a statement to the Johannesburg stock exchange that it would continue to engage with the central bank despite the debit.
The West African country’s central bank last week ordered MTN and its lenders to return $8.134 billion it alleges MTN had sent abroad in breach of foreign exchange regulations.

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