CBN Fines Access Holdings N604 Million For Violating FX Guidelines, BOFIA Act

Access Holdings has been fined by its Regulator the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for contraventions of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFIA) Act of Nigeria and CBN circulars during the 2022 financial year.

BrandNewsDay reports that the CBN fined Access Holdings’ banking subsidiary as regards its infringement of the guideline related to Foreign Exchange among other factors.

This online platform noted that the tier-one Nigerian lender, Access Holdings penalties by the apex bank and BOFIA are listed respectively: a sum of N2m regarding a breach of the accounts administration agreement on 11 Mar 2022. A sum of N2m in respect of wrong account opening with mismatched details on 11 Jul 2022, a sum of N100 million was the penalty for contravening guidelines on FX on 8 Dec 2022, and a sum of N500 million was the penalty for contravening guidelines on FX on 8 Dec 2022.

Access, the largest lender by total assets in Africa’s largest economy, booked an impairment charge of N197.79 billion in December 2022, which represents a 137.69 percent surge compared to N83.21 billion as of December 2021.

A breakdown of loan loss expense shows the bank took an impairment of N103.10 billion in recognition of the economic loss impact of Ghana’s sovereign debt crisis (Domestic debt and Eurobonds).

The heavy loan loss expense weighed on the bottom line as profit after tax was reduced by 5 percent to N152.20 billion in December even as it realised N281.30 billion in net gains on financial assets at fair value.

The management and board of directors of Access Bank are not efficient in generating income and growth from its equity financing as the return on average equity (ROAE) fell to 13.34 percent in December 2022 from 17.79 percent compared to its previous year, 2021.