LAGOS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has placed a travel ban on all the managing directors of 14 banks that are awaiting audit report from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nation newspaper reported on Saturday.

    The report of the remaining 14 banks might be ready before the end of September, the report said.

    The remaining 14 banks awaiting the CBN verdict are: Zenith, Bank PHB, First City Monument Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Spring Bank, Access Bank, Wema Bank, Equatorial Trust Bank, Skye Bank, Ecobank, IBTC, Fidelity Bank and Citi Bank.

    A competent source said the bank chiefs have been placed on travel ban by the commission ahead of the release of the second phase of the audit report of banks by the CBN.

    "There is no cause for alarm but we decided to take a pre-emptive step to avoid a repeat of what we are currently experiencing over the former managing director of Intercontinental Bank Plc Erastus Akingbola," he said.

    The ban might not last two weeks, depending on when the CBN governor releases the final report, the source said.

    The CBN has audited 10 of the 24 banks, culminating in the removal and trial of five banks' managing directors over billions of naira non-performing loans.