Obinna Chima
For the second week in a row, Zenith Bank Plc has maintained its lead with the highest allocation of foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the returns on utilisation of forex published by banks last week have shown.
Zenith Bank with an allotment of $23,630,485.39 was closely followed by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) which got $23,549,564.32, to come in second, while Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited with $20,003,513.17 held the third slot.
Also, Ecobank Nigeria which published returns of $15,120,559.25, held the fourth position, while First City Monument Bank Limited (FCMB) with $14,780,851.20, occupied the fifth position.
In the same vein, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) reported returns of $14,518,891.10 to occupy the sixth place, just as Access Bank Plc with $12,569,794.24, held the seventh place. Diamond Bank Plc with $11,525,173.56, was in the eighth slot.
Diamond Bank was followed by Union Bank of Nigeria Plc which reported returns of $11,058,653.79, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc – $8,536,168.37, Citibank – $8,006,422.11, and Fidelity Bank Plc – $7,125,684.54.
A breakdown of individual bank returns showed that Zenith Bank sold forex to a total of 439 customers – individual and corporate. The bank's forex sales showed that a significant number of customers on its list procured forex to pay tuition abroad and for personal travel allowances (PTA), while some others bought dollars for the importation of visible items.
GTBank sold the dollars purchased from the CBN to 224 customers, with 32 of its customers getting forex for the importation of petrol, corrugated cardboards, spare parts, bitumen, and industrial raw materials, among others. In addition, 130 GTBank customers were sold forex to pay for school fees while about 62 got forex for PTA.
Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited listed the 246 customers it sold forex to. The customers utilised the dollars they purchased from the bank for loan repayment, school fees, PTA and Business Travel Allowances (BTA).
The returns on forex utilisation published by Ecobank had 296 customers. Of this number, 92 got the dollars for the importation of industrial raw materials and other visible items, while the rest were for the payment of tuition fees abroad and PTA.
FCMB published 238 customers, of which 76 purchased the dollars for the importation of visible items, while others were for school fees and PTA, just as a large number of First Bank's 819 customers also bought forex for school fees and PTA.
Access Bank had 195 customers on its list, of which most also bought dollars to pay for school fees abroad and for PTA. Also, customers such as Dana Motors got forex for the importation of Kia vehicles in semi-knocked down parts, while Jubaili Agrotech got dollars for the importation of herbicides, among others.
Diamond Bank also sold dollars to 247 customers for the importation of essential industrial raw materials, PTA and for the payment of tuition fees abroad. Union Bank also had 130 customers on its list, with 41 of them that got dollars for the importation of petrol, gas, and materials for textiles, among others, while the rest were for school fees and PTA.
| Ranking | Bank | Amount ($) |
| 01 | Zenith Bank | 23,630,485.39 |
| 02 | GTBank | 23,549,564.32 |
| 03 | Standard Chartered | 20,003,513.17 |
| 04 | Ecobank Nigeria | 15,120,559.25 |
| 05 | FCMB | 14,780,851.20 |
| 06 | FirstBank | 14, 518,891.10 |
| 07 | Access Bank | 12,569,794.24 |
| 08 | Diamond Bank | 11,525,173.56 |
| 09 | Union Bank | 11,058,563.77 |
| 10 | UBA | 8,536,168.37 |
| 11 | Citibank | 8,006,422.11 |
| 12 | Fidelity Bank | 7,125,684.54 |
| 13 | Sterling Bank | 6,348,739.94 |
| 14 | Skye Bank | 2,554,769.85 |
| 15 | Unity Bank | 1,930,379 |
| 16 | Wema Bank | 160,000 |
