The Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) is to re-issue guidelines on non interest banking in order to cater for other variants of profit and loss sharing banking according to CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Sanusi told Nigerian newspaper NEXT that he had instructed that the guidelines be re-written and re-issued. The m0ve follows feedback and criticism of the guidelines initially issued. The Governor said was satisfied that the original wording could give the impression that Islamic banking was the only type of non-interest banking to be allowed. “It was never our intention to restrict non-interest banking to Islamic banking but we understand why it would be viewed that way,” Sanusi told NEXT.
The governor went further to say that with the new guidelines in place, “Anyone who wants to practice non-interest banking that is non Islamic will be free to apply for a licence and the CBN would accordingly issue guidelines for that type of banking.
“The guideline we have issued are for Islamic banking as one form of non-interest banking and do not intend to restrict the definition of non-interest banking. Islamic Banking is now an acceptable product worldwide with its rules and regulations. What we have issued is consistent with international regulatory standards.”