Technical hitches stall N300b inter-bank deals

[TheNation]

  CBN Governor Sanusi  

The money market segment of the financial system was thrown into confusion yesterday as technical hitches in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) payment system - the Real Time Gross Settlement Systems (RTGS) and T24 – stalled about N300 billion inter-bank transfers.

The inability of banks to transfer money and securities triggered a spiral effect as some lenders’ accounts with the CBN  were thrown into debit. Others could not honour their inter-bank obligations.

CBN’s Director, Corporate Communication, Ugochu-kwu Okoroafor, confirmed to The Nation last night that there was a problem with the RTGS, which he said the apex bank was working round the clock to resolve .  

“Yes, we have a problem with the cooling system of the RTGS. Our Crisis Resolution team is just coming out of a meeting now.  The RTGS is a very sensitive equipment that has to operate within a certain temperature. We turned it off, repaired it and turned it on but it refused to come on.

“All the banks have been given an update on what to do. We apologise for the inconvenience and we will not penalise any bank for any breach. The IT team has been working to restore it and they will work overnight to ensure that the system is restored as soon as possible.

“Besides, we have a contingency plan, in case things go wrong.”

The RTGS are funds transfer systems on whose platforms transfer of money takes place from one bank to another on a real time and on gross basis. Settlement in real time means payment transaction is immediate. The transactions are settled as soon as they are processed.

The T24 is a funds transfer system where both money and securities take place from one bank to another on a real time and on gross basis.

The daily transfer between banks is about N300 billion.

Commenting on the development, the Head Treasury Department of one of the top banks, said the implication is that customers with transfers above N10million (which cannot be transferred through cheques because of the policy that prohibits it), were stalled yesterday.

He confirmed that the CBN sent mails to the Chief Dealers of banks around 5.pm, intimating them about the problem with the RTGS, adding that the problem may not be resolved until today.

He said what saved the day was the T24, which some of the banks later accessed to consummate some of their transactions.

He said the situation in the money market may become more chaotic, if the RTGS is not restored today.

 



TheNation