•Appoints new board, mgt
…Says bank not in distress
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday appointed a new board and management for Skye Bank Plc after it failed to sustain key liquidity and capital adequacy ratios.
The Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, at a press briefing at its head office annex in Lagos, said the apex bank appointed new board and management to take over the affairs of the bank following the resignation of the Chairman, Chief Tunde Ayeni, and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Timothy Ogunatayo.
It was also revealed that several key management staff of the bank had resigned in anticipation of the planned dissolution of the board and management by CBN, which has discreetly been working to remove directors of some commercial banks that have demonstrated a level of distress in the last few months.
Skye Bank had been in talks with shareholders and new investors to raise N30 billion ($150 million), but suspended plans for a rights issue last year due to weak market conditions.
Emefiele said the bank’s outgoing board and management had consistently failed to turn its fortunes despite regular warnings from the CBN.
In place of the outgoing board and management, Emefiele said the CBN has appointed Alhaji Mohamad K. Ahmad as the new Chairman, while Mr. Tokunbo Abiru is the new MD/CEO.
The governor explained that CBN had to remove all the non-executive directors and two longest-serving directors of Skye Bank and appointed new non Executive and Executive Directors and EDs in their place.
“The most important issues in banks are Non Performing Loans (NPL), Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and liquidity situation. What we have since late 2014 to 2016 is that the prudential and adequacy ratio has been weakening. We thought it is not right for us to allow this to continue to the point that it gets irreversible.
That is why we took this step to nip it in the bud. It has nothing to do with being in distress. We do not want the liquidity and adequacy ratio to worsen to the point that depositors’ fund gets into risk,” he explained.
The CBN boss urged shareholders and customers of the bank to remain calm, assuring that the bank was not in distress.
“I maintain that Skye Bank is not in distress. We have only taken this unavoidable decision to ensure that depositors’ funds are not eroded,” he said.
He hinted that the overall banking industry was sound, despite weaknesses in the economy but that none of Nigeria’s 21 commercial lenders were in distress.
“The strategic health of the banking industry remains sound and where there is need to inform the general public about the strategic health of the banks, we will do it. I want to assure everybody that the strategic health of the industry is still good.
“No doubt, as a result of the global shock, there is certain weakening in certain ratios, then those ratios have not weakened to the point where we can say the industry is distressed. We are appealing to all depositors to be calm. There is no need to leave an impression that any bank is distressed. We at the CBN and NDIC have held discussions and I want to assure you that no deposit is at risk.
“Customers should continue to do their businesses the way they have been conducting in all the banks. No depositors will lose their money. SEC and other concerned regulators have been informed of this development,” Emefiele said.
Skye Bank evolved from the merger of five legacy institutions including Prudent Bank Plc, EIB International Plc, Bond Bank Limited, Reliance Bank Limited and Co-operative Bank Plc.
Recall that on October 5, 2014, AMCON announced Skye Bank Plc as the preferred bidder for Mainstreet Bank Limited with N126 billion. Mainstreet Bank, formerly Afribank, was adjudged to possess N261 billion assets in 2012 and N29.8 billion shareholders’ fund as at 2011.
AMCON had selected Skye Bank for the acquisition of all its interests in Mainstreet Bank, representing the entire capital of the bridge bank after a rigorous bidding exercise that spanned five months and involving over 20 bidders.
The bank said it intended to leverage its wealth of experience from the successful integration of the five legacy banks to drive efficiency, increase market share and ultimately ramp up stakeholder value from the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank.
According to the lender, the acquisition will avail it of many benefits, including cost leadership, business optimisation and greater ability to offer business convenience to its retail and commercial customers, with a combined branch network of over 450 across all the states of the federation.
Skye Bank, a leading tier two bank, was among the eight banks designated as Systemically Important Banks in 2014, which reflected its industry leadership, strong market share, diverse location spread and strong brand equity.
Within four days of the announcement of Skye Bank as the preferred bidder by AMCON, the bank paid the mandatory 20 per cent deposit of the bid price well ahead of the October 9, 2014 deadline, the same day it signed the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA).
And in a display of capacity and commitment to see the deal through, the bank again, on October 31, 2014 paid the 80 per cent balance to complete the takeover of Mainstreet Bank ahead of the transaction deadline.
Source:Daily Sun
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