Sterling Bank debunks ICPC’s allegation on Abuja office over hoarding of new currencies

Stanley Ihedigbo

Sterling Bank of Nigeria has insisted it’s Abuja Regional office was in full compliance of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directives of disbursing the new currencies and weren’t not hoarding the money.

The bank’s reaction  follows allegation against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) that their regional office was not following the apex bank directives of disbursing the new currencies.

According to statement made available to The Mirror,  the bank stated that they want to  provide the true representation of events to the narrative as expressed by the ICPC in a tweet late on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

They said that a regulatory monitoring team visited their Abuja Central Business District (CBD) Complex on February 3, 2023.

“The monitoring team, in the company of the branch service manager and other staff, inspected and observed that, the branch’s ATMs were dispensing all denominations of the newly designed notes.  They were  in full compliance with the regulator’s recommendations on Over ‑ The‑Counter (OTC) disbursements.

“During the inspection, the monitoring team made inquiries about the details of the cash observed in the vaults. To which the team responded with details of the branch’s ATM and OTC cash disbursement processes. To our knowledge, all responses provided were satisfactory as no further queries were raised.

“The monitoring team promptly left the premises upon concluding the inspection. Approximately one hour later, officials of the ICPC, accompanied by the monitoring team, returned to the branch and removed two of the branch’s staff for further questioning at its headquarters in Abuja.

“The Sterling staff were held at the ICPC office and were later released without any charges levied against them by the close of the business day on February 3, 2023”, it stated.

They further explained that their branch at the Central Business District, Abuja, is a regional headquarters and serves as a hub for 5 branches and 15 ATM terminals within the region.

“During the visit, members of the monitoring team inspected the vault of the branch and observed the sum of N258,000,000 in N1000, N500 and N200 denominations. The distribution records from the CBD branch to other locations served within the region were presented for the evaluation of the monitoring team.

“The monitoring team proceeded to visit two branches in Utako and Wuye as both locations receive their cash disbursements from the regional headquarters of Sterling in CBD. Upon their visits to the Utako and Wuye branches, the monitoring team reviewed the records submitted for the movement of cash from the CBD branch to otherbranches served within the region.

“It is important to state that cash was being paidover the counter at both branches, and the ATM terminals were dispensing the newly designed denominations during the monitoring exercise.

“Sterling deems it necessary to point out that members of the regulatory monitoring team were informed of the sums contained in the branch’s vault prior to the inspection. These sums were confirmed with areview of the records as presented by representatives of the Bank.

“The assertion of a “discovery”, as presented in the narrative, is inaccurate andgrossly misleading. All cash observed in the vault of the CBD branch was earmarked for distribution to other branches in the region for disbursement to customers of the bank and the public.

“The sum of N5,000,000 each as contained in the monitoring team’s report, represents the cash moved to augment the vault balances of the Utako, Wuye,Seda Close and Kotangora branches (in line with the bank’s daily routine of cash management) and also for disbursement to the public via their ATM terminals.

“All balances in our vaults are reported daily to the Central Bank of Nigeria and form the basis for the allocation of new notes in an efficient manner; it is therefore,untrue that such monies are ‘stashed’ or ‘hoarded.’

“From the commencement of the distribution of the re‑designed denominations, the CBD branch has received the total sum of N1,543,000,000 from the apex bankand paid to customers as summarized are,  the sum of N892,700,000 paid out in about 104,821 transactions across 15 ATM terminals between January 6 to February 6, 2023.

“The sum of N78,600,000 paid out in approximately 3,892 over the counter transactions across all 6 branches in the Abuja region between February 2, 2023 to February 6, 2023. This was commenced upon receipt of the directive from the regulator to disburse thenew notes over the counter ‑ subject to a limit of N20,000 per transaction”, the bank added.

They further added that the sum of N1,000,000,000 in a combination of old and new notes, was disbursed to customers over the counter in about 2,124 transactions between December 15, 2022 and January 5, 2023.

“The current balances across the 6 branches in Abuja as at the close of business onFebruary 7, 2023 stood at N178,670,000. The average vault balances currently held in the six locations is N30m per branch; well below our historical vault balances.

“The representatives of the bank duly informed the regulatory monitoring teamand officials of the ICPC of the sums in the vault, stating the purpose as intended for distribution to other branches. It must be noted that no cash was “stashed” in the vault of the regional office.

“For emphasis, we wish to state that Sterling Bank has complied with all the guidelines onthe distribution of redesigned notes from inception to date,” it stated.