What are the differences between community banks, microfinance banks and multi-purpose cooperative societies?
First of all, you know that there are no more community banks in the country but, specifically, the main difference is that we are licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the process of getting the license involves some very rigorous conditions that must be met. We are also supervised by regulatory bodies such as the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Company (NDIC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the CBN itself which regularly comes to conduct examinations. Indeed, in March, the CBN came around for a spot–check. So, the main differences are that we are licensed, supervised and insured so that depositors’ funds are safeguarded and insured by the NDIC. What do you think will be the effect of the financial crises in the banking industry on microfinance institutions as most of the banks that are representing them as parent banks are having liquidity and administrative problems? We need to clarify that the universal banks or the commercial banks are operating on a
