Apprehension and disquiet have enveloped operators and depositors of microfinance banks (MFBs) in the country over plans by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reel out new policy guidelines for the ailing sub-sector.

The Nigerian Tribune investigations revealed that the apex bank was targeting a minimum capital base of between N100 million and N200 million for unit MFB as against the current N20 million, while that of the state MFB, which is presently N1 billion, might be jacked up to N5 billion.

Speculations have been rife that the CBN was considering increasing the shareholders’ funds and introducing far-reaching measures to sanitise the sector.

Only last week, CBN had reportedly commenced target examination of the microfinance banks, a measure the deputy governor, Financial System Stability, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, said was aimed at identifying the weak ones.

He explained that the examiners were assessing the banks’ capital adequacy, liquidity and corporate governance, with a view to making quality policy and regulatory decisions on specific microfinance banks in 2010.

Toward the new policy for the sub-sector, the apex bank had last year sent some of its officials to understudy MFBs in Ghana and Malaysia.