…Unethical Bank Verification Number Practice
…Failure To implement External Auditors Recommendations
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sanctioned Access Bank Plc for its complacency and unethical practices in the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercises in the 2017 accounting year.
The apex bank fined Access N78m for failure to carry out the regulatory requirement on BVN for its customers amongst others infractions.
According to the bank’s 2017 corporate action made available to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for verification on Wednesday, other contraventions by the bank includes non-disclosure of unused foreign exchange from CBN, non-compliance as regards Bancassurance rules, CBN forex examination, injection of capital to subsidiaries, poor adherence to KYC requirement and non-implementation of external auditors recommendations.
Similarly, the Bank, in its ordinary course of business in the year under review is presently involved in plethora cases as a defendant, but said that the court will have no material effect on its operations.
The bank had in its financial statement said it granted various credit facilities to its subsidiary companies and key management personnel. “Key Management Personnel is defined as members of the Board of Directors of the bank, including their close members of family and any entity over which they exercise control. Close member of family are those who may be expected to influence or be influenced by that individual in dealings with the bank. The rates and terms agreed are comparable to other facilities being held in the bank’s portfolio”, it added.
However, the bank board of director has proposed a final dividend of 40 kobo, when added with the 25 kobo interim dividend that was paid for 2017 half year, its brings the total dividend for the 2017 financial year to 65 kobo.
