The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in a report on Friday announced that global banking giant HSBC and UBS, a Swiss private bank, have closed their representative offices in Nigeria.
The report did not state why the banks closed shop, and the development has elicited reactions from Nigerians.
Former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in his reaction to the exit of the HSBC and UBS said “Always a sad day for our country when such entities pack up. FDI is a key component to economic growth. My administration will attract more FDI by making the CBN stronger and independent, banish multiple exchange rates and promote market-led economy.”
That’s a huge lie.
HSBC and UBS were never set up for regular banking. When I
say regular banking I mean retail banking. They never ran salary
accounts; they were never set up to afford loans to customers etc.
Their sole purpose was to help customers who can afford their services, an easy way to transfer funds overseas.
UBS opened its doors in Nigeria in mid-2014 to “connect prospective clients with its offshore centers in Switzerland, the UK, Dubai and Singapore, where dedicated client advisers offer personalised service and full access to the bank’s vast global resources”.
The apex bank revealed that foreign direct investment in Nigeria fell to N379.84 billion in the first six months of 2018, compared to N532.63 billion recorded in 2017.
Many do not know that since the inception of BVN which has made it easier for financial regulatory bodies to monitor outflow & inflow on every account, HSBC has been plotting their exit.
If anyone can make their books public, you would find out they had more outflow than inflow. BVN was created February 2014 and then enforced by the President Muhammadu Buhari government by 2015.
What did that do? Every account owner was forced to get a BVN code on their account (s). So if law enforcement and financial regulatory bodies accuse you of fraud, with your BVN they can tell which account(s) you have funds stashed.
Any account without a BVN can no longer be run. Movement of (illegal) huge sums especially overseas became a massive problem. So imagine a bank whose main source of revenue is moving funds overseas, suddenly can stay for months on end and the only customers you get are those who maybe want pay school fees overseas or medicals, won’t you close shop?
No more wires of $200,000 and above to Dubai to buy that exotic penthouse or carrying on with shopping sprees. No more bank instruments to private
jet companies overseas. The importation of big boy toys; yachts, helicopters have reduced drastically.
Now, once you try to initiate a huge wire transfer, CBN red flags that account and next thing, compliance is calling the account officer to produce the Know-Your-Customer (KYC). Within minutes the Special Fraud Unit (SFU), is doing a background check.
Imagine a being civil servant or government aide, you would have to explain what the funds are for/how they were acquired and this drastically hit such banks like HSBC and UBS.
Banks like Stanbic IBTC are able to stay afloat because even though they use the same model as HSBC, they are also solid in retail banking.
Any bank that opens shop under the Buhari government with the sole aim of moving funds overseas would surely fail.
Look closely at those who are leading groups against president Buhari, they are private jet, helicopter, yacht, schooners owners. Many own those beautiful houses we see in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Muscat, Seychelles, London, USA.
Go to our airports especially Lagos and Abuja, most female workers who sell Dubai Real Estate deals are out of jobs. The few you see have stopped hounding travelers like before.
Once upon a time you would see them hanging around airports and five star hotels, it made me wonder why Nigerians were seriously marketing UAE Real Estate. How do you think the transactions were being made?
Through banks like HSBC and UBS (many of our local banks also were accomplices)! Now every dollar that passes through CBN to a foreign bank must have complete paperwork. Bankers are now very careful, no one wants to be invited by the SFU, or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to produce a customer.
Who are those crying about their
exit? The Fayoses, Atikus, Ben Bruces and their cohorts. The youth coming online to defend them; many were being flown by
helicopter to private resorts all over the country. Unfortunately for them, that tap has dried up.
About four years ago, I told a friend that if Buhari wins election few banks would be in trouble, Buhari won and it didn’t take long it started happening.
HSBC closed over 100 outlets in the UK last year alone. I am sure president Buhari is responsible!
In July, HSBC predicted that a victory for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 would have a negative effect on the economy.
In its response, the presidency asked the bank to return stolen assets allegedly hidden in its coffers.
Many of the bank heads used depositors monies to sponsor
politicians/campaigns, when investigations started many tried to not only hide their shady deals but shield customers under investigation.
Why won’t these people hate president Buhari? Why won’t they blame their woes on Buhari? When I say many of these banks aren’t setup for the common man, people wonder at what I mean.
A very good example; write a lovely proposal for a good business deal and take to the banks and 90% of the time you wont get funding but let APC and PDP finish primaries and produce governorship candidates, both candidates can work into same bank and get as much as N500m each for campaigns. Banks didn’t care then, what’s the worst that could happen?
Worst case scenario, one candidate would lose. Whoever wins would bring enough investments that would cover the N1bn both took.
That was conventional banking until Buhari came onboard. Say Odudu Bank sponsors Rochas and he wins he would make sure almost all state accounts go to Odudu Bank.
Some governors went as far as making their account officers
commissioners as compensation (I don’t want to call names). Some bank relationship managers would go on leave close to election period to join the clients on the campaign trail, once the client wins they
resign their appointments with the bank and become political
appointees.
Why would a bank worker do that if the bank hasn’t invested heavily on that politician? Suddenly Buhari appears with this yeye BVN, TSA! Banks now see SFU officers like regular staff as they are monitoring everything. EFCC under Magu has become a pain in the ass because money can’t just disappear. Who do they blame? Buhari! The instant BVN came into effect; do you know how many accounts were lying
dormant because of BVN, with huge sums in them?
Many folks especially people being investigated wouldn’t want to come forward to claim them; oga Magu and gang were waiting. When many of these politicians or billionaires tell you the economy isn’t doing so well, look closely at the person because many of them own some of these five star hotels. Some rooms go as much N300,000 a
night. Once upon time some folks would pay for as much as one year for a room/suite upfront.
Many of those militants/ folks involved in oil bunkering operate this way. Mondays through Fridays they are in the creeks sabotaging oil installations, Friday they get into their convoys to PHC and then jet off to Abuja and Lagos, where they
eventually check into these hotels.
You enter a place like Transcorp weekends you see them at the lobby, poolside and by Monday morning, banks are wiring funds to these hotels to cover expenses. Today, the oil bunkering isn’t as lucrative as it once was.
First price of crude has dropped so selling bunkered oil isn’t really worth it as it used to be. Secondly many countries are cutting down on the purchase of crude and third our military is hitting them harder than before so who is to blame?
They tell you banks are falling because of PMB; lie! Banks are falling because banks were never made for the common man. I mean Nigerian Banks! TSA has collapsed most government accounts into central accounts. So we no longer have many government accounts littered all over our banks, many of such accounts were set up just to
steal and launder government monies.
Are these words saying Nigeria has suddenly become fine for the
common man? HELL NO! Nigeria for some years now has never favoured us the ordinary folks but this is the first time we are seeing the crooked elite joining us to complain! The fact they are complaining means something is being done to halt their crooked ways.
Whatever it is, BABA PLEASE CONTINUE! And as for the common man, we didn’t get here in four years! It took years of plundering, bad/no planning to get here. It will take a while to get us out.
Signed Concerned Citizen who wouldn’t want to get fired by Monday morning for saying what needs to be said.
