CBN Asks Commercial Banks to Regularly Monitor the Accounts of Politicians, Govt Appointees, Others

• The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has asked commercial banks to monitor the accounts of politicians
• The bank’s circular noted that politically exposed persons are highly vulnerable to corruption
• CBN said that due to the high level of corruption in Nigeria, accounts of political appointees and others should be investigated regularly

Nigeria’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has asked commercial banks and other financial institutions in Nigeria to regularly screen the accounts of Politically Exposed Persons (PEP).

The bank revealed this in a circular to financial institutions on Friday, June 24, 2023, titled ‘Guidance notes on Politically Exposed Persons’ and was signed by the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Chibuzor Efobi.

CBN asks banks to investigate politicians' account regularly

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The bank said that the accounts of PEPs should be subjected to periodic reviews as may be deemed suitable by the financial institutions with risk assessment.

CBN said:

“Frequency of the periodic reviews should be determined by the customer's risk and documented appropriately. FIs should also review their PEP database frequently.”

The bank added that regularly, transactions and account activities should be monitored and investigated for money laundering/terrorism financing/proliferation and financing risks.

Political appointees are vulnerable to corruption

The apex bank stated that domestic PEPs were to be entrusted with critical public positions in Nigeria. In contrast, those given prominent public places in any other foreign jurisdiction were foreign PEPs.

The bank noted that due to the level of corruption in Nigeria, domestic PEPs were highly rated vulnerable to financial risks. By default, most domestic PEPs were also considered high risk, a Punch report said.

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Legit. ng reported on the demands by CBN to ask customers for their social media handles.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has asked banks to obtain the social media handles of their customers as part of its newly released due diligence requirements for bank customers.

Source: Legit.ng