The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the issuance of banking licences to three new players, bringing the number of banks operating in the country to 23.
According to a circular hosted on the apex bank’s website, the new operators are; Titan Trust Bank Limited, TAJ Bank Limited and Globus Bank Limited. While two of the newly licensed banks will operate as commercial lenders, the third, TAJ Bank Limited, was licensed to operate as a non-interest bank.
The newly licensed TAJ Bank Limited has joined Jaiz Bank as the only two operating as non-interest banks in the country.
With the latest development, the number of commercial banks with national authorization now stands at 11. Banks with national authorisation are banks with a capital base of N25 billion and are allowed to operate in all states of the federation but barred from having offshore operations.
The number of commercial banks with regional authorization (having a capital base of N10 billion and restricted to operate within a geographical scope of a minimum of five and a maximum of 10 contiguous states) now stands at three. Also, the licensing of TAJ Bank Limited as a non-interest bank with regional authorisation means there are now two non-interest banks operating in the country.
Recall, that Jaiz Bank is the first and only non-interest rate bank to be licensed by the CBN with the license to operate in all states of the federation (national authorisation).
According to sources, Globus Bank Limited obtained its regional banking license in 2019 and began operations on May 2, 2019. The executive director of Globus Bank Limited is Elias Igbinakenzua who has had stints as Executive Director of Zenith Bank and Access Bank respectively.
Titan Trust Bank was established in 2018 but officially obtained its license in April 2019 as a national bank and started operations. The executive director is Adaeze Udensi. The bank’s operations include SME banking, Digital banking and Commercial banking.
