Banking Regulation in Nigeria: A Review Article

Abstract

This paper is a review article on banking regulation in Nigeria. With regards to banking regulation in Nigeria, eight periods are discernible namely laissez faire banking era, ‘new’ banking regulation era, indigenization era, market deregulation era, guided deregulation era, universal banking era, consolidation era and the period leading from global financial crisis to current banking era. One striking reason for the various laws is the need to evolve a safe and sound financial system. To achieve a more effective regulation for the Nigerian financial system, there should be a change in focus of regulation from the financial institutions to the financial products. This change of approach will also reduce regulatory duplications as products whether created by banks or non-bank financial institutions can be regulated using the same institutional structure. This change of focus from macro-regulation of institutions to micro-regulation of products should therefore be able to address some of the complexities of inter-sectoral entwinements in the financial system. In addition, a co-ordinated approach to regulation should be pursued to complement this change of focus in order to overcome existing complexities and overlapping incidence of risks, functions and portfolios of institutions.