Bank CEOs Agree To Go Tough On Chronic Debtors

Chief executive officers of financial institutions in Nigeria have resolved to collaborate to identify and go tougher on chronic debt defaulters in the country.

This is coming exactly two weeks after the Federal Government resolved to bar debtors, both individuals and organisations, owing the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The committee of bankers made this known after a meeting held in Lagos to discuss how some debtors allegedly resorted to using law enforcement agencies including police, judiciary and state securities to harass banks and their chief executives in order to either delay repaying loans or avoid meeting their debt obligations completely.

It further explained that these activities by the law enforcement agencies and the debtor’s defaulters were capable of affecting the banking system through the CEOs’ reputation among international banks as well as destroys the economy.

According to a communiqué titled: “Review of Harassment and Criminalisation of Banks’ CEOs by Law Enforcement Agencies Based on Allegations by Bank Debtors,” issued after the meeting, all banks in the country resolved to share information about those entities, and refusing to do further business with them until they settled their obligations.

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They also resolved to engage the Central Bank of Nigeria on behalf of all banks on its need to adopt a “Reverse Reference” system for chronic debtors, as well as present all cases of defaulters to the Bankers’ Committee Ethics Committee.

Meanwhile, access bank had earlier threatened to publish names of their debtors in national dailies.