Minna Banks Get N57Bn Deposits in 2012

Alhaji Mohammed Kabir Dangusau, chairman, Minna Bankers Clearing House Committee in Niger State,has said that Currency Operations in the Minna Clearing Zone in 2012 indicated that N56.71billion was deposited  by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) while withdrawals were N35.22 billion

The figures  compared to deposits of N53.25billion and withdrawals of N33.62billion in the previous year.

He added that this represented  an increase of 6.25percent  in deposits and 3.02percent in withdrawals respectively  in the year under review relative to  2011.

Dangusau, who is also the branch Controller of the state’s branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria stated this in his address at the 2012, end of the year dinner/awards night held on Saturday night in Minna, the state capital.

He also noted that in 2012, seventeen Deposit Money Banks operated in the Minna Clearing Area with eleven of them acting as Settlement Banks, while the financial instruments cleared were 105,212 and N47.47billion in volume and value respectively in 2012, compared with 117,903 and N49.06billion in 2011.

This, he said reflected a decrease of 10.76 percent and 3.36 percent respectively in volume and value, stressing that this could be attributed to a shift to other payment channels such as Automated Teller Machines(ATMs) Points of Sale (POS) Mobile  payments and Internet Banking respectively.

He however stated that  it is expected that this declining trend would continue in future years as it signified that the cheque payment mode is no longer fashionable in the face of modern  electronic channels of payment system.

Accordingly, the Chairman, Minna Bankers Clearing House Committee enjoined DMBs to continue their drive for alternative payment models, especially electronic means, so as to de-emphasize cash as a dominant payment channel.

According to him “a shift from the use of physical cash to electronic  mode of payments could lead to savings that would accrue to banks which is hitherto spent on cash management”.

Meanwhile, Dangusau noted that under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) that a total of 224 loans were guaranteed and valued at N61.86million in 2012 by DMBs (Union Bank and First Bank) out of 17 DMBs were operating in the state.

He lamented that the fact that only two DMBs participated in the ACGSF in 2012 was not encouraging, while calling on all DMBs to show more than a passing interest in the laudable  Federal Government’s Scheme to aid the nation’s Agriculture sector of the economy.

He said “with the introduction of the Nigerian Incentive–based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) it is expected to enhance DMBs lending to the agricultural sector".

"NIRSAL is aimed at covering the five integrated components of Risk sharing, Insurance, Technical Assistance, Bank incentive and Agricultural Bank rating” Dangusau concluded.