Central bank sees currency and credit risks following reforms Regulator bars banks from using forex gains for dividends.
Nigeria’s central bank instructed the nation’s lenders to divert windfall currency revaluation gains into buffers against future losses, following the devaluation of the naira earlier this year.
“Banks are required to exercise utmost prudence and set aside the foreign currency revaluation gains as a counter-cyclical buffer to cushion any future movements in FX rates,” the Abuja-based Central Bank of Nigeria said in a circular to lenders. “Banks shall not utilize such FX revaluation gains to pay dividend or meet operating expenses,” it said.