The seven hundred and seventy six micro finance banks operating in the country will soon undergo Central Bank of Nigeria stress test to ascertain their viability.

A top official of the apex bank, who preferred anonymity, told Newsmen in Abuja that some of the Micro Finance institutions had shown signs of weakness and some have also deviated from the main objective of providing facilities for small businesses.

According to the official since the Micro Finance Banks received deposits from customers like the commercial banks, the stress test would be necessary to safeguard deposits.

Reports say a similar examination of the operations of some commercial banks by the CBN revealed some weaknesses in the banks which led to the sack of the chief executives of five banks.

To shore up the operations of the weak banks, the CBN injected four hundred and twenty billion naira into the operations of the banks as well as guarantee their foreign loans and correspondent banking lines.

It would be recall that micro finance banks were established in January 2008 to provide credit to small businesses that find it difficult to access credit from the commercial banks.

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