By Muhammad Bashir Shuaib

CLAIM

A media user, Purity Boom posted on his official Facebook page claim that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned foreign exchange (FOREX) in Guarantee Trust Bank and First Bank of Nigeria by withdrawing the license and the claim is now circulating on social media as media users keep reposting the claim.

VERDICT

Misleading

FULL TEXT

A claim circulating on social media that the Central Bank of Nigeria has Withdraws Forex License of GT band and First Bank of Nigeria. This rumour has been forwarded multiple times on WhatsApp statuses and has generated significant attention on Facebook.

The circulating misinformation has had a notable impact on people, reoccurring from most people sharing and reposting the information on Facebook especially considering the current situation of the dollar, foreign exchange and naira in  Nigeria.

Another posts from a Facebook user

VERIFICATION

The claim came after the Bank of Ghana suspended the foreign exchange trading licenses of two Nigerian-owned banks operating in the neighbouring West African nation — Guaranty Trust Bank and First Bank — for a month over “fraudulent documentation” in their forex operations. Since then, the two banks have reacted to the Bank of Ghana statement assuring their customers in Ghana of the safety of their forex assets.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last Friday revoked the licenses of 4,173 Bureaux De Change Operators and none of the commercial banks in the claims were included, the CBN suspended the 4173 BDC after accusing the affected institutions of failing to observe regulatory provisions. The names of the 4173 BDC were provided through the official X handle of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Confidence News searched the names of the two commercial banks in the documents and none of them were found on the list.

Search results from the CBN revoked BDX lists

CONCLUSION

The circulating claim that GTB and FBN’s FOREX licenses were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria has been thoroughly investigated and proven to be completely misleading.

Muhammad Bashir Shuaib is an intern Journalist with Confidence News Nigeria