Posted by By Jerome Ushakang on
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Charles Soludo has disclosed that 16 banks have scaled through the N25 billion hurdle in the on- going consolidation programme.
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Charles Soludo has disclosed that 16 banks have scaled through the N25 billion hurdle in the on- going consolidation programme.
Soludo in his key note address presented by his Special Adviser on policy, Dr. Chidozie Emenuga at the third Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN)and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC )workshop held in Lagos , also revealed that 21 groups involving 65 banks have signed Memorandum Of Under-standing (MOU) while 17 received pre-merger consent with only one bank receiving the final approval for merger from the CBN.
The CBN Governor said, "We are sure of 16 banks that have scaled through the N25 billion hurdle".
CBN, he said, is collaborating with other regulatory agencies and remain commited to help all groups involved in the consolidation process to succeed. He said byJannuary 2006, new banks and banking business will all have new face banks. He commended SEC and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) which he said have agreed to cut down cost involved in Mergers and Acquisition to one per cent.
Ealier in his welcome address, the Director-General of SEC, Musa Al-Faki lauded the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN) which he said had partnered with SEC and other stakeholders to ensure capacity building for the success of the banks consolidation process since the beginning of the banking reforms.
He explained that the Association has been focused in its enlightenment efforts as it relates to the issues of mergers and acquisitions which are strategic to the on- going reforms.
Al-Faki stated that the workshop was timely, as all the techniques and intricacies of the process must be understood, if the post consolidation entities are to thrive and succeed.
Giving more details on mergers and acquisitions, Al-Faki said out over 80 banks in the industry currently involved in the reform process, current status report revealed that only the merger between United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA)and Standard Trust Bank Plc (STB) has so far been consumated .This despite the deadline of December 31, 2005.
In his remarks, the Chairman of AIHN, Mr. Albert Okumagba said his Association is set to move on to consolidate other subsectors in the financial industry. He said they are going to face a lot of challenges and a lot of work needs to be done but added that he is fully in support of no extension of the CBN December dateline. He advised that all stakeholders should sit down and work out ways to ensure that 90 per cent of banks cross the N25 billion minimum capitalisation hurdle.