Banks’ credit to private sector up 3% to N43.07trn in one month

As Emefiele urges risk professionals to expand scope of practices

By Motolai Oseni

Following an improved economic condition in the country, banking industry credit to the private sector has increased by 3.14 per cent within one month from N41.754 trillion in February this year to N43.066 trillion at the end of March, 2023.

This is even as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has called on risk professionals in the financial industry to broaden their scope of risk management practices in the face of emerging risks.

Although, net credit to the government declined by 3.17 per cent from N28.431 trillion in February to N27.529 trillion at the end of March 2023.

It is, however, worthy of note that banks had begun to increase lending to the private sector as the effects of the cash crunch waned in the country, increasing the level of credit to the sector by 18.1 per cent compared to N36.47 trillion that was recorded at the end of March 2022.

According to analysts at Cordros Research, the increase in the credit to the private sector “reflects the impact of improved domestic macroeconomic conditions and CBN-led interventions on the real sector.

“We expect that the improvement of domestic economic activities will drive the willingness of commercial banks to create risky assets. Also, we expect the CBN to maintain its intervention programs at a steady pace as the economy expands. Conclusively, we predict that the Credit to Private Sector (CPS) will maintain a double-digit expansion in 2023 full year.”

Consequently, currency outside of banks increased by 71.4 per cent between February and March as the CBN increased output of cash to ease the cash crunch in the system. Data showed that currency outside of banks soared from N843.311 billion to N1.445 trillion.

Similarly, currency in circulation increased to N1.68 trillion in March from N982.09 billion in February although it is a 48.1 per cent year on year decline, highlighting the effects of the CBN’s currency redesign.

“Policy resulted in a temporary reduction in the amount of money in circulation as people were required to exchange their old banknotes for new ones”, analysts at Cordros Research has said.

Meanwhile, Emefiele, who spoke recently at the inauguration of the Chartered Risk Management Institute of Nigeria (CRMI), formally known as the Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), emphasised the need for financial institutions to adapt and evolve their risk management frameworks to effectively address emerging risks and challenges.

He noted that, with the rapid advancement of technology and changing dynamics in the financial sector, it has become imperative for risk professionals to expand their expertise beyond traditional areas such as credit and liquidity risk.

Emefiele, who was represented by the director of Risk Management Department, CBN, Dr Blaise Ijebor, also added that, CBN is committed to fostering a robust risk management culture within the industry by enabling the identification, assessment, and mitigation of risks at both institutional and system-wide levels.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria from its inception has increasingly emphasized the need for financial institutions to build out risk and compliance teams. Initially focusing on credit, liquidity and prudential risk management, the lessons learned from previous major risk events such as the Global Financial Crisis, along with greater utilisation of digital channels in the provision of financial services have increased the scope and practice of risk management in the Financial Services Industry.

“Today we have very mature formal structures in place for identifying, assessing, and aggregating risks to enable the formation of an enterprise-wide view of the risks that are associated with financial services and the operations of the Central Bank. We have also put in place measures to effectively manage these risks.”

He added that, the evolution of risk management within the central bank led to the establishment of the Risk Management Department in 2010; an attestation to its commitment and a confirmation that the management of the CBN is willing to lead the industry from the front.

“We believe that the implementation of a robust risk management framework is critical to the achievement of the Bank’s mandate and safeguarding the stability of the Nigerian financial system. As you would expect, Risk Management continues to be a major consideration in many of the key decisions and initiatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he pointed out.

READ ALSO: Income Fund announces distribution

Further speaking on the CRMI attaining its chartered status, he added that: “the elevation of RIMAN to a Chartered Institute is a clear testament to your collective commitment to enhancing risk management practices in our country; through the provision of high-quality training and certification programme.”

He, therefore, charged the institute to use its position to develop a pool of skilled risk management professionals who will help to develop and implement effective risk management strategies and procedures that will help contain different forms of risks and support the growth and stability of the financial system in today’s rapidly changing world.