Following recent crisis that bedeviled the banking sector, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is taking clues from Malaysian Central Bank on how best to avert such calamity from reoccurring. CBN said its interest in Malaysia stems from the successful banking and financial reforms the country undertook which provide a benchmark for the current banking reforms of Nigeria's apex bank.
The two regulatory banks have also entered into a partnership that would see them share expertise and exchange relevant information especially in executing their core mandates.
CBN confirmed that the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to share expertise and exchange relevant information in the areas of banking supervision, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Microfinance and Islamic Finance, Monetary Policy and Development Finance Institutions.
Also the agreement covers External Reserve Management, institutional arrangement for financial crisis management and resolution, Foreign Exchange Administration, Performance Management and Corporate Strategy, Leadership Development and Talent Management.
The MoU was signed at the headquarters of the Malaysian Central Bank, the Bank Negara in Kuala Lumpur. 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 1990's.
Other areas of interest to the CBN include the stimulation of economic development through financing SMEs and effective supervisory framework for microfinance banks.
"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 (CBN) between the March 22 and 26, 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," a CBN statement noted.
CBN understudies Malaysia in financial crisis management (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9691:cbn-understudies-malaysia-in-financial-crisis-management-&catid=85:national&Itemid=340)
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