Bank CEOs agree to share details of chronic debtors, blacklist them

Chief executive officers of deposit money banks across the country have agreed to share details of chronic debtors and blacklist such.

The bankers made this known after a meeting held to discuss how some debtors have been allegedly law enforcement agencies to harass and criminalize banks CEOs.

According to a commonique issued after the meeting, all deposit money banks in the country have committed to refusing chronic debtors access to financial services until debts are settled.

They also said publishing names of chronic debtors in national dailies is inevitable.

The resolutions reached at the meeting are:

All banks to create and maintain a “Black Book” wherein chronic debt defaulters would be logged, and to share details of such customers amongst themselves

All banks to formally commit to collaborating with each other with a view of sharing details of chronic debtors, refusing them access to further financial services until they settle their indebtedness

The Body to engage CBN on behalf of all banks on its need to adopt a “Reverse Reference” system

All cases of defaults as considered above would be presented and made to go through the Bankers’ Committee Ethics Committee

In a recent publication, Access Bank had threatened to publish the names of customers refusing to settle their debts in national dailies.