The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has commended the banking reforms midwived by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In its 2012 Financial System Assessment Programme (FSAP), the Bretton Woods institution noted that “the Nigerian commercial banking system as a whole can absorb most credit and market risk shocks, withstand liquidity pressures, and absorb moderate potential losses,” concluding that the banking sector “is now well capitalised, liquid, and profitable, with three small systemically unimportant banks demonstrating some weakness.”
The IMF had also in its 2012 Article IV consultations with the government of Nigeria commended the authorities’ success in restoring financial stability after the 2009 banking crisis, and particularly welcomed the central bank’s commitment to address supervisory and regulatory gaps identified in the Financial Stability Assessment Update, particularly the need to strengthen cross-border supervision and the regime against money laundering and terrorism.
Available data indicate that the apex bank successes are being replicated around the globe and that the reform now serves as a model for both developed and developing countries.
