Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released guidelines for licencing and operating financial holding company in the country.
The CBN guideline said that the process of licencing holding company shall be in two phases: Approval-in-Principle (AIP) and final licence.
The guideline stated that the application for AIP shall accompany with a non-refundable fee of N2,000,000 or such other amount that the CBN may specify from time to time payable to the Central Bank of Nigeria by bank draft or by electronic transfer. It said that the promoter would also show an evidence of meeting the prescribed minimum paid-up capital, justification for applying for the financial holding company and the ownership structure in a tabular form indicating the name of proposed investor(s), profession/business and their percentage shareholdings;
The guideline further said that the promoters are expected to submit another application after six months in operation for the CBN to issue final licence. Such application according to the apex bank shall be accompanied with non-refundable licensing fee of N10,000,000.00 ,or such other amount that the CBN may specify from time to time, evidence of payment of capital contribution by each shareholder and certified true copy (CTC) of Certificate of Incorporation of the financial holding company.
The apex bank had in 2010 repealed the universal banking and introduced a new banking model as part of the strategic initiatives to reposition the Nigerian banking system on the path of sustainable viability.