Posted by By EMEKA OKOROANYANWU and SEUN ADESIDA on
No fewer than 60 managing directors and chief executive officers of banks and over 25,000 bank staff are to lose their jobs by the end of this month.
No fewer than 60 managing directors and chief executive officers of banks and over 25,000 bank staff are to lose their jobs by the end of this month.
This will be the immediate fallout of the banking sector consolidation process where about 24 mega banks are likely to emerge from the 89 in existence before the exercise started.
Investigations by Daily Sun in the banking industry shows that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had by last month end began the process of liquidating weak and uncapitalised banks that failed to secure merger or acquisition partners.
CBN governor, Professor Charles Soludo, told the press two weeks ago that the liquidation process would begin this month while confirming that about 22 banks had scaled through the N25 billion capital base requirement hurdle. As at last week, 24 banks were in the process of meeting up with the requirements.
The 24 CEOs that are likely to merge as bank managing directors in 2006 include Mr Tony Elumelu of UBA; Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede of Access Bank; Dr Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank; Mr Moyo Ajekiigbe of First Bank; Dr G.A.T. Oboh of Union Bank and Mr Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank.
Others are Mr Tayo Aderinokun, Guaranty Trust Bank; Mr Simon Millet, Standard Chartered Bank; Chief Dr Cecilia Ibru, Oceanic Bank; Mr Patrick Olaleye, Afribank; Mr Atedo Peterside, IBTC and Mr Emeka Onwuka, Diamond Bank.
For the Skye Bank group, Mr Akinsola Akinfemiwa looks good to emerge the CEO, while Alhaji Alade Musiliu Adeleke will head Wema Bank.
First City Monument Bank has Mr Oladipo Balogun as MD, while the NIB/Citibank group will have Emeka Emuwa of NIB as its CEO. Sterling Bank group will be headed by Babatunde Dabiri and Okey Nwowu of First Atlantic will drive the First Inland Bank group. First North Bank comprising of Bank of the North, NUB and New Africa Bank may have Mallam Danjuma Odili as its CEO.
Fidelity Bank's Reginald Ihejiahi will certainly emerge the CEO, while Mike Chukwu of Guardian Express will drive the wheel for Citizens, ACB International and Guardian Express Banks group.
Platinum Bank will be led by Mr Francis Atuche; Devcom/ETB may have Jacob Zachariah, while the Unity Bank group may be led by either Olukayode Pitan or Kunle Adeagbo. It is not certain yet who will be leading a group of 11 distressed banks led by Societe General Bank (SGB).
Apart from the over 58 bank CEOs that will lose their jobs, industry watchers also fear that the consolidation process will lead to massive job losses. About 20,000 people are estimated to hit the unemployment market soon. Secretary of the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) told Daily Sun that the union would meet with the CBN governor this week to discuss the labour issues involved in the consolidation. According to a position paper prepared by NUBIFIE, an estimated 20,000 jobs are likely to be swept off as a result of the restructuring, new mergers and acquisitions and even liquidation of banks.
By NUBIFIE's calculations, over 7000 jobs will be erased from the 14 banks that have hit the N25 billion capital base on their own while 12,000 more will be erased from the 10 mega banks that are likely to emerge from mergers and acquisitions.
Altogether, these banks, with a combined staff strength of 26,000, are expected to shed some weight from the collapse of individual head offices into mega head offices.
NUBIFIE said the greatest casualty would come from the ranks of senior managers and managers, including general managers and executive directors.
Industry watchers also expect about 6,000 workers to likely join the unemployment market from the banks, which may not find either merger partners or banks to acquire them and so will head for liquidation.
As at last week, some of the merged banks had given intentions to sack some of the workers.
The CBN has acknowledged that some bank workers would lose their jobs, and CBN governor, Professor Charles Soludo, had earlier proposed a small scale industries scheme that would accommodate bank workers that would lose their jobs to consolidation.