Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday said it would soon issue guidelines on margin lending to prevent the kind of reckless lending that contributed significantly to the crisis in the Nigerian banking sector.

The CBN Governor, Mr Lamido Sanusi, said, during a news conference that the sector entered a crisis situation, partly because the CBN, as the regulator, lacked both the capacity and will to supervise the banks.

Banks lost about N1m after the stock market bubble, fuelled by a lending spree to stockbrokers, bank subsidiaries and individuals for stock purchases, burst in 2008.

Citing examples of regulatory lapses, Sanusi said there had been no guideline on margin trading, adding that “for instance, the Financial Sector Regulatory Committee did not meet for three years and no one talked.

He observed that the major issues in sector centred around corporate governance, saying banks were controlled by their chief executive officers rather than the boards.

He said, there was no risk management framework, and there was lack of investor/consumer sophistication. People were buying bank’ stocks without knowing the reasons for doing so.

He added, when you have someone responsible for financial system stability or surveillance, who has never worked in a bank, it is difficult to expect him to  now what makes the banks run.

Sanusi noted that the reforms in the sector were based on four pillars enhancing that quality of banks ensuring financial stability, ensuring good financial sector evolution and putting in place a system to ensure that the financial sector continued to contribute to the economy.

He said the financial market division of the CBN had been strengthened,adding that the apex bank was also working closely with the Ministry of Finance to ensure stability.

The CBN governor said the Asset Management Company, expected to take toxic assets off banks balance sheets, would take off with N1m when the bill was passed.

In his speech, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Remi Babalola, said to initiate the kind of reforms embarked upon by the CBN governor required an unusual boldness and the kind of political zeal you don’t find in environments like this.

He also disclosed that the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation had alerted the Ministry of Finance of developments in the banking sector before the recent crisis.

The NDIC wrote to us to tell us that there were serious issues in the banking industry. They named specific banks and talked about the proportion of loan book in the capital market, he said, adding that in circumstances like this, discussions were stalled because the other regulator would not agree with the others position.

He, however, expressed the ministry’s full support for the banking reforms, saying that, we are committed to higher regulatory and supervisory standards in all segments of the financial services industry.

Our overall focus is economy. We will collaborate with the CBN to fast track the establishment of the AMC and ensure that we safeguard the banks.

We will give the CBN that governmental support it needs at any point in time without jeopardising confidence in the system. On his part, Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NDIC, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim said 89 NDIC examiners, in addition to those CBN, were currently in the 24 banks to re-ascertain the financials of the banks.

He also said the corporation had already set in motion, the process of reviewing its act to accommodate provisions that would enhance its effectiveness.