NIGERIA: REQUESTED INFORMATION ON BANK OF THE

UNCLAS ABUJA 002977 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO EXIM BANK E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: BEXP ETRD NI EXIM SUBJECT: NIGERIA: REQUESTED INFORMATION ON BANK OF THE NORTH LIMITED REF: SECSTATE 193723 ¶1. Summary. EconOff met with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor for International Operations, Mr. Ernest Ebi on October 8. Mr. Ebi confirmed that Bank of the North (BON) Ltd. is recognized as a commercial bank, and all the regulations that apply to other commercial banks in Nigeria are applied with equal force by the CBN in its supervision of the activities of BON Ltd. End Summary. ¶2. Ebi confirmed that, although the ownership of the BON Ltd. is spread across the northern state governments and private individuals, the CBN treats it like any other commercial bank in the country. The bank gets no preferential treatment by regulators or the GON. ¶3. Ebi informed EconOff that he personally cannot relay the financial position of BON Ltd., but referred us to public documents such as the BON's Financial Statement, which is certified by the CBN. ¶4. Ebi confirmed that the BON Ltd. was not one of the banks recently sanctioned for illicit arbitrage or round tripping of foreign exchange. He did not believe the bank was under any investigation, but referred us to the Department of Banking Supervision. The Department of Banking Supervision has not responded to our request for written confirmation that the BON Ltd. has not been sanctioned and is not presently under investigation. Instead, they refer us to other public records of the bank's standing, and remind us their policy is to not make public comment on sanctions and investigations. ¶5. The names of the key bank officials noted in reftel were passed through the Consular and other Mission databases. There were no findings of negative information. JETER JETER