The current structure of the banking system has promoted tendencies towards a rather sticky behaviour of deposit rates, particularly at the retail level, such that, while banks’ lending rates remain high and positive in real terms, most deposit rates, especially those on savings, are low and negative.
In addition, savings mobilization at the grass-root level has been discouraged by the unrealistic requirements, by many banks, for opening accounts with them. The summary from the foregoing is that the Nigerian banking system faces enormous challenges which if not addressed urgently could snowball into a crisis in the near future. We don’t have to wait for the crisis to explode before we act.