No cash was “stashed” in the vault of our regional oce – Sterling Bank

Thu, Feb 9, 2023
By editor
5 MIN READ

Business

By Kennedy Nnamani

STERLING Bank has reacted to a viral report contained in a tweet from the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, on Tuesday, stating that no cash was “stashed” in the vault of its regional office.

In a statement made available to Realnews Magazine, the bank noted that the assertion of a “discovery”, as presented in the narrative, is inaccurate and grossly misleading.

Clarifying the controversial issues, the bank explained that a regulatory monitoring team visited  in the company of the branch service manager and other staff, inspected its Abuja Central Business District, CBD Complex on February 3, 2023 and observed that the branch was in full compliance with the regulator’s recommendations on Over ‑ The‑Counter, OTC, disbursements.

It added that during the inspection, the monitoring team made inquiries about the details of the cash observed in the vaults to which the team responded with details of the branch’s ATM and OTC cash disbursement processes.

 “To our knowledge, all responses provided were satisfactory as no further queries were raised.

“The monitoring team promptly left the premises upon concluding the inspection,” the statement said.

The bank remarked, however, that approximately  one  hour  later,  officials  of  the ICPC, accompanied by the monitoring team, returned to the branch and removed two of the branch’s staff for further questioning at the ICPC headquarters in Abuja.

Although it noted that the Sterling staff were held at the ICPC office and were later released without any charges levied against them by the close of the business day on February 3, 2023.

Furthermore, the bank said: “members of the regulatory monitoring team were informed of the sums contained in the branch’s vault prior to the inspection which were confirmed with a review of the records as presented by representatives of the Bank.

“All cash observed in the vault of the CBD branch was earmarked for distribution to other branches in the region for disbursement to customers of the bank and the public.

“The sum of N5,000,000 each as contained in the monitoring team’s report, represents the cash moved to augment the vault balances of the Utako, Wuye, Seda Close and Kotangora branches (in line with the bank’s daily routine of cash management) and also for disbursement to the public via their ATM terminals.

“All balances in our vaults are reported daily to the Central Bank of Nigeria and form the basis for the allocation of new notes in an efficient manner; it is therefore, untrue that such monies are ‘stashed’ or ‘hoarded’.”

While speaking on its disbursement of the new notes, the bank noted that from the commencement of the distribution of the re‑designed denominations, the CBD branch has received the total sum of N1,543,000,000 from the apex bank which it has paid to customers as summarized thus:

“The  sum  of  N892,700,000  paid  out  in  about  104,821 transactions  across  15ATM terminals between January 6 to February 6, 2023.

“The sum of N78,600,000 paid out in approximately 3,892 over‑the‑counter transactions across all 6 branches in the Abuja region between February 2, 2023 to February 6, 2023.

“This was commenced upon receipt of the directive from the regulator to disburse the new notes over the counter ‑ subject to a limit of N20,000 per transaction.

“The sum of N1,000,000,000 in a combination of old and new notes, was disbursed to customers over the counter in about 2,124 transactions between December 15, 2022 and January 5, 2023.

“The current balances across the 6 branches in Abuja as at the close of business on February 7, 2023 stood at N178,670,000.

“The average vault balances currently held in the six locations is N30m per branch; well below our historical vault balances.”

It is important to note that the Sterling branch at the Central Business District, Abuja, is a regional headquarters and serves as a hub for 5 Sterling branches and 15 ATM terminals within the region.

Sterling bank further provided a background about the visit of the personnel of the ICPC to its CBD Abuja branch, noting that during the visit, members of the monitoring team inspected the vault of the branch and observed the sum of N258,000,000 in N1000, N500 and N200 denominations.

Adding that the distribution records from the CBD branch to other locations served within the region were presented for the evaluation of the monitoring team, the bank stated that the monitoring team proceeded to visit two branches in Utako and Wuye as both locations receive their cash disbursements from the regional headquarters of Sterling in CBD.

“Upon their visits to the Utako and Wuye branches, the monitoring team reviewed the records submitted for the movement of cash from the CBD branch to other branches served within the region.

“It is important to state that cash was being paid over the counter at both branches, and the ATM terminals were dispensing the newly designed denominations during the monitoring exercise,” it added.

KN

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