The Central Bank of
Nigeria has announced its desire to work with the Bank Negara Malaysia
(Central Bank of Malaysia) to seek solutions to and share expertise on
a wide range of issues for the benefit of the banking industry.
Today, the bank
announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the
Malaysian bank with the purpose of sharing skills expertise and
exchanging relevant information that pertain to the banking industry.
The information was revealed in a press statement issued by the Central
Bank of Nigeria yesterday.
The memorandum of
understanding covers the areas of Banking Supervision, Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs), Microfinance, Islamic Finance, Monetary Policy,
Development Finance Institutions, External Reserve Management,
institutional arrangement for financial crisis management and
resolution, Foreign Exchange Administration, Performance Management and
Corporate Strategy, Leadership Development and Talent Management.
Seeking direct relevance
The statement
signed by Mohammed Abdullahi, who is head, corporate affairs, of the
regulatory body, said the MOU was signed at the headquarters of the
Bank Negara in Kuala Lumpur during a one-week study tour of Malaysian
financial institutions by the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of
Nigeria between the 22 and 26 March, 2010.
“The study tour
enabled the team to understudy the success of the Malaysian regulator
in the area of financial crisis management which has direct contextual
relevance to the Nigerian situation,” the statement said. “Other areas
of interest to the Central Bank of Nigeria include the stimulation of
economic development through financing SMEs and effective supervisory
framework for microfinance banks.” Malaysia is a developing country
that has achieved widely acknowledged economic success and the Bank
Negara has had an effective financial stability framework since the
Asian financial crisis in the 1990s. Many believe that the banking and
financial reforms the country undertook successfully are the benchmark
for the current banking reforms of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The team returned to Nigeria last weekend.
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