Total assets and liabilities of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) increased to N22.319.07 trillion in the first quarter of 2013, representing an increase of 4.8 percent above N21,303.95 trillion at the end of the preceding quarter, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The funds, sourced largely from accretion to capital account and increased mobilisation of deposit liabilities, were used mainly to extend credit to the private sector and acquisition of unclassified assets.
The Economic Report of first quarter of 2013 released by the CBN shows that the central bank’s credit to the DMBs, largely loans and advances, increased by 4.7 percent to N238.79 billion at the end of the review quarter.
At N13,789.69 billion, DMBs’ credit to the domestic economy rose by 4.5 percent above the level in the preceding quarter. The development was attributed, largely, to the 19.7 percent increase in claims on the Federal Government.
Total specified liquid assets of the DMBs stood at N6,724.22 billion, representing 44.6 percent of their total current liabilities. At that level, the liquidity ratio fell by 5.1 percentage points below the level in the preceding quarter, but was 14.6 percentage points above the stipulated minimum ratio of 30 percent.
The loans-to-deposit ratio, at 38.3 percent, was 4 percentage points below the level at the end of the preceding quarter, and 41.7 percentage points below the prescribed maximum ratio of 80 percent.
On the other hand, total assets/liabilities of the discount houses stood at N359.38 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2013, indicating an increase of 4.3 percent and 2.9 percent above the levels at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2012, respectively.
The rise in assets was accounted for, largely, by the increase in claims on “others” and other assets, which more than offset the fall in claims on the Federal Government.
Correspondingly, the rise in total liabilities was attributed largely to the increase in the other amounts owed to and borrowings, which more than offset the decline in capital and reserves.
Discount houses’ investment in Federal Government securities of less than 91-day maturity increased by 21.4 percent to N151.63 billion, and represented 53.4 percent of their total deposit liabilities.
At this level, discount houses’ investment was 6.6 percentage points below the prescribed minimum level of 60 percent for fiscal 2013. Total borrowing by the discount houses was N79.4 billion, while their capital and reserves stood at N17.6 billion. This resulted in a gearing ratio of 4.5:1, compared with the stipulated maximum of 50:1 for fiscal 2013.
