The Central Bank of Nigeria has debited N500 billion from the accounts of  13 banks for failing to meet the target to provide credit to their customers.
Among the banks affected are Zenith Bank, UBA, GTB, Standard Chartered Bank and  Citigroup Inc.
Citigroup and  Zenith Bank Plc got the stiffest penalties, according to the  circular sent to the banks by CBN.

The amounts have already been debited, Ahmad Abdullahi, the head of banking supervision, told reporters in Abuja on Thursday. The efforts are aimed at supporting the real economy by extending loans mainly to farmers, small- and medium-sized businesses and consumers.
A breakdown of the deposits deducted showed that Zenith Bank was debited N135.629 billion; Citibank was debited a total of N100.743 billion; United Bank for Africa – N99.676 billion; FirstBank –N74.669 billion; Standard Chartered Bank – N30.027 billion and GTBank – N25.148 billion and FBNQuest – N2.697 billion.
Similarly, while FCMB’s account with the central bank was debited N14.371 billion; Jaiz Bank – N7.525; Keystone Bank – N4.163 billion; Rand – N2.823 billion, and Suntrust – N1.703 billion.