. next steps 15. the central bank of nigeria is very pleased to be partnering with the gates foundation and looks forward to the next phase of the project. it is imperative that going forward, a determination is made of additional information that may be relevant to our inclusion and regulation efforts that are not already accounted for in this round. 16. other non - conventional financial access points should be captured and included in the report such number of people and value of transactions that pass through motor parks, markets and such other hubs where financial activities are carried out to help determine the general level of activities in the informal financial sector. conclusion 7. in conclusion, i believe that we are taking a very important step here today and the partnership between the central bank of nigeria and the bill and melinda gates foundation will go a long way in ensuring that our efforts to realize the targets set are a success. i look forward to a continued collaboration. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

evidenced by negative capital adequacy ratios and shareholders ’ funds that had been completely eroded by operating losses ; ( e ) weak capital base, even for those banks that have met the minimum capital requirement, which currently stands at n1. 0 billion or us $ 7. 53 million for existing banks and n2. 0 billion or us $ 15. 06 million for new banks, and compared with the rm 2. 0 billion or us $ 526. 4 million in malaysia. ( f ) over - dependency on public sector deposits, and neglect of small and medium class savers. one of the recent developments in the banking system, which is of great concern to the monetary authorities is the significant dependence of many nigerian banks on government deposits, with the three tiers of government and parastatals accounting for over 20 percent of total deposit liabilities of deposit money banks. although the distribution among banks is not uniform, there are some banks whose dependency ratios are in excess of 50 percent. the implications are that the resource base of such banks is weak and volatile, rendering their operations highly vulnerable to swings in government revenue, arising from the uncertainties of the international oil market. in recent times, many banks appear to have abandoned their essential intermediation role of mobilizing savings and inculcating banking habit at the household and micro enterprise levels. the apathy of banks towards small savers, particularly at the grass - root level, has not only compounded the problems of low domestic savings and high bank lending rates in the country, it has also reduced access to relatively cheap and stable funds that could provide a reliable source of credit to the productive sectors at affordable rates of interest. the current structure of the banking system has promoted tendencies towards a rather sticky behaviour of deposit rates, particularly at the retail level, such that, while banks ’ lending rates remain high and positive in real terms, most deposit rates, especially those on savings, are low and negative. in addition, savings mobilization at the grass - root level has been discouraged by the unrealistic requirements, by many banks, for opening accounts with them. the summary from the foregoing is that the nigerian banking system faces enormous challenges which if not addressed urgently could snowball into a crisis in the near future. we don ’ t have to wait for the crisis to explode before we act. our vision of a sound and reliable banking structure for the 21st century the nigerian banking system today is fragile and marginal. our vision is a banking system