Banking Briefs, BREAKING NEWS
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THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has ordered the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, to conduct a fresh final bid for the sale of Enterprise Bank. Investigations have revealed that the apex bank has doubted the integrity of the process that led to the final bids submitted by the five shortlisted financial institutions last month.
It was also gathered that some top CBN officials believe that the result of the final bids submitted by AMCON to the CBN governor was manipulated to favour a particular local bank with strong ties with a former governor of a South Eastern state. This suspicion was aggravated when AMCON suddenly changed one of the rules for the sale of the Bank shortly after the final bids were submitted.
Investigations also revealed that three banks are in contention for Enterprise Bank, two of which are local banks with head offices in Victoria Island, Lagos. One of the local banks is said to have used its strong connections with the former governor to sway the outcome of the bid in its favour.
Further investigations revealed that the decision of the CBN has rattled the board of the bank and prompted the former governor to visit the CBN Headquarters last week Thursday to argue the case of the bank as the best for Enterprise Bank.
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Rewards for Access Bank Mobile Banking Customers
ACCESS Bank Nigeria Plc is showering gifts on its customers in its Download and Win promo. The reward is designed to encourage customers to use electronic payment channels and support the cashless project of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The winners were rewarded for downloading and using the Bank’s new Mobile Banking Application. With the new Access Mobile Banking application, customers can manage their money from a mobile device and enjoy a 24-hour/7-day week access to their accounts anytime, anywhere.
Rita Erumosele, head of mobile financial services, Access Bank, said the application enables customers to check account balances, review detailed account activity, transfer funds between accounts, pay bills, update and cancel pending payments. She explained that to download the application, a customer only needs to go to app store in a mobile device and search for Access Bank.
According to her, downloading the smartphone app gives the customer fast and free access to his or her account information which includes payment of bills, transferring funds, getting balances and more.
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Keystone Bank to Divest Subsidiaries
KEYSTONE Bank Limited has concluded plans to divest its subsidiaries before its sale to a core investor despite their return to profitability. Consequently, the bank is divesting its subsidiaries in Uganda, Sierra Leone and Liberia because of the bad loans on their books.
Philip Ikeazor, managing director, Keystone Bank Limited, said “the bank doesn’t have a N50 billion in the head office to maintain subsidiaries as required by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, so we have to divest to maintain our core business which we have the capital requirement.”
He stated that Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, has plans to begin the sale of Keystone Bank before the end of the year after new owners take over Mainstreet Bank and Enterprise Bank. “Before the core investor comes in, we would be divesting from insurance healthcare unit, and other non-core businesses.
“We are targeting an increase of about 15 percent growth in loan book this year and we intend to achieve this by aggressive customer acquisition and loyalty programme, use of technology via Point of Sale, POS Terminal, Debit and Credit cards, internet banking and others.
Compiled by Chinwe Okafor
— Aug. 11, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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