CBN fines three commercial banks N800m for facilitating cryptocurrency transactions

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has slammed a fine of N800 million on three commercial banks over their alleged failure to comply with regulations barring consumers from transacting in cryptocurrencies.

Bloomberg report said the sanctions were part of the CBN’s efforts to tighten down on cryptocurrency and to make sure that commercial restrictions on cryptocurrency trading are in place.

The CBN is also said to have the ability to detect cryptocurrency transactions that commercial banks may have overlooked.

The banks sanctioned by the CBN are Stanbic IBTC Bank, Access Bank Plc, and United Bank for Africa.

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Access Bank, according to the report, was fined N500 million for failing to shut down customers’ crypto accounts.

United Bank for Africa Plc, slammed N100 million fine for a customer’s digital-currency transactions.

IBTC Bank, fined N200 million for two accounts allegedly used for crypto transactions.

Speaking at at an investor conference call in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC, Wole Adeniyi revealed that while Stanbic IBTC followed the central bank’s orders, the transactions for which it was fined may have passed through its system undetected.

According to him, the CBN detected the relevant transactions using “advanced capacity” that Nigerian lenders do not have access to, and they have urged the central bank to share the technology.

“It doesn’t seem that they are going to entertain a refund, but they are now sharing intelligence with us to be able to kind of deter clients,” he added.