CBN Fines Access, Stanbic IBTC N800 Million For Cryptocurrency Transactions

Three Nigerian commercial banks have been fined a total of N800 million by the Central Bank of Nigeria for failing to comply with regulations banning consumers from trading in cryptocurrencies.

The sanctions, according to Bloomberg, are part of the CBN’s efforts to crack down on cryptocurrency trading by ensuring that commercial limits are in place. It was also disclosed that the CBN has the ability to detect bitcoin transactions that may have gone unnoticed by commercial banks.

Among the banks affected include Stanbic IBTC Bank and Access Bank Plc.

Banks and amount in fine

• According to the report, Access Bank Plc, the country’s largest lender by assets, was fined N500 million for failing to shut down customers’ crypto accounts.
• CBN penalized Stanbic IBTC Bank, the local unit of Standard Bank Group Ltd., N200 million for two accounts allegedly used for crypto transactions.

While Stanbic IBTC fulfilled the central bank’s regulations, the transactions for which it was sanctioned may have passed through its system undetected, according to Wole Adeniyi, Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC, during an investor conference call in Lagos.

He said that the CBN was able to detect relevant transactions using “advanced capability” that Nigerian lenders do not have, and that the central bank should 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,” Adeniyi added.

Nairametrics has information that other banks are impacted as well and is currently on course to uncover them.