Against the backdrop of the uncertainty triggered by the announcement of sweeping tariffs by the Donald Trump-led United States Government, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it was confident of the current trajectory of its ongoing bank recapitalisation exercise.

The Director, Banking Supervision Department at the apex bank, Dr. Olubukola Akinwumi, stated this yesterday in Abuja at the 36th Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors. The event had as its theme “Playing the global game: Banking recapitalisation towards a $1 trillion economy.”

According to Akinwumi, the management of the CBN deserves commendation for having had the foresight of starting the recapitalisation programme at the time it did. He said: “The planned recapitalisation is expected to ensure that banks manage effectively any shock that may arise out of their business or out of the emerging global economic order.

“Larger capital bases translate to greater capacity to fund long-term, high-impact sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing and agriculture.

With an injection of stronger capital, banks will be better equipped to provide financing to critical sectors that directly contribute to the expansion of the economy.” The CBN had last year announced new minimum capital requirements for banks.

Under the new rules, commercial banks with international authorization must now maintain a minimum capital base of N500 billion, up from N50 billion, while national commercial banks need N200 billion, up from N25 billion.

Regional commercial banks must maintain N50 billion, merchant banks N50 billion, and non-interest banks must meet N20 billion for national and N10 billion for regional authorization respectively.

Akinwumi emphasised that the recapitilisation programme was aimed at ensuring that the country’s lenders are strong enough to play the required role in helping the Federal Government achieve its goal of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030.