Amaka Obiefuna.

Banks have placed in more strict criteria for giving out loans to businesses and households in an effort to curb increasing cases of loan defaults. This was disclosed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in its fourth quarterly survey report released yesterday.

The bank’s decision to tighten credit loan applications drastically reduced the approval of household overdraft/personal loan applications.

Changes in spreads between bank rates on approved new loan application to small businesses and other financial institutions widened in the fourth quarter of 2016.