The Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria has kicked against the Central Bank of Nigeria’s imposition of 0.5 per cent levy on commercial banks to fund the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.According to the shareholders, AMCON had now received N453.47bn as levies from commercial banks between 2020 and the first quarter of 2022.The shareholders said the corporation received N146.9 billion in 2020, N180.67 billion in 2021, and N125.9 billion in the first quarter of 2022 as levies from commercial banks, noting that these were deductions from the imposition of 0.5 per cent charges on banks’ total assets on and off-balance sheet imposed on banks.According to the shareholders, these levies by AMCON were harming the returns on investments of the commercial banks in the country.The association made their displeasure known at a press conference, organised by ISAN to address concerns of minority shareholders on the sustained depressed returns on investments and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s faulty Interpretation of Insider Credits in Banks.Speaking for the members of ISAN, the Coordinator Emeritus of the association, Sunny Nwosu, said the association’s earlier concerns and fears over the creation of AMCON had already emerged as demonstrated in its inability to put the debt recovery issue to rest.
