Zenith Bank Plc, one of the leading deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria has announced plans to fully exit its regulatory forbearance arrangement with the Central Bank of Nigeria by June 30 this year
The lender made this disclosure in a Notice filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Wednesday.
Zenith Bank is one of the DMBs affected by the apex bank’s directive on the freezing dividend payment, bonuses and investments in foreign subsidiaries over regulatory forbearance in respect of Single Obligor Limit and other credit facilities.
The bank, in the statement signed by its Company Secretary, Michael Otu, confirmed that it had “successfully raised and surpassed the new regulatory capital requirement of N500bn. The Bank’s exposure under the SOL forbearance relates solely to a single obligor. We are confident that this exposure will be brought within the applicable regulatory limit on or before 30 June 2025.
“With respect to the forbearance granted on other credit facilities, the Bank confirms that this applies to only two (2) customers. We have made substantial provisions in respect of these facilities and have taken appropriate and comprehensive steps to ensure full provisioning by 30 June 2025.
“Upon completion, the Bank will no longer be under any forbearance arrangements in this regard. The Bank expects to have exited all CBN forbearance arrangements by the end of the first half of 2025.”
The lender promised its shareholders that it would be able to meet the relevant conditions, enabling it to pay a dividend in the current year.
It would be recalled that the apex bank on Tuesday in a statement signed by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, maintained its stance on the directive and clarified that only a few banks were affected by it.
