Fourteen Banks Meet New CBN’s Capital Requirements

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso on Tuesday disclosed that about 14 banks have met the regulatory capital requirements set by the aoex bank last year.

He disclosed this during a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja, while announcing the decisions of the CBN’s monetary policy committee(MPC).

On March 28, 2024, the apex bank issued a circular notifying banks of a new capital raise.

With the review, the new capital requirement of International Banks was raised to N500bn, National Banks capital was raised to N200bn while regional banks new capital was reviewed upward to N50bn.

However, the CBN exempted banks’ reserves, shareholders’ funds and retained earnings from the capital requirement in order to inject fresh capital into the system.

The exercise commenced on April 1, 2026, and would end 24 months later on March 31, 2026, the CBN said.

The CBN governor also said about 14 banks have so car complied with the recapitalisation requirements.

He said, “The MPC expressed satisfaction with the prevailing macroeconomic stability, evidenced by the improvements in several indicators.

“These include the sustained disinflation, improved output growth, stable exchange rate and robust external reserves.

“It particularly noted the increased momentum of disinflation in August 2025 being the highest in the past five months.

“This deceleration underpinned by monetary policy tightening, exchange rate stability, increased capital inflows and surplus current account balance have helped to broadly anchor inflation expectations.”

Other factors that contributed to the deceleration, according to Cardoso, include the continued moderation in the price of petrol and the notable increase in crude oil production.

Citing the submissions of the committee, the CBN governor said the stability in the macroeconomic environment offered some headroom for monetary policy to support economic growth and recovery.

“Notwithstanding the consistent deceleration in inflation, the committee observed the persistent build up of excess liquidity in the banking system, resulting largely from fiscal releases emerging from improved revenues,” he said.

“Be mindful of the need to preserve the prevailing macroeconomic stability. The MPC noted the risk posed by the excess liquidity in the banking system.

“Members noted that effective vomiting of the interbank market remains critical to enhance translation of monetary policy.”