As the Central Bank of Nigeria prepares to make its announcement this afternoon on the second round of intervention in five of the 14 banks for which it has concluded the special audit exercise commenced on the 14 last August, the Managing Director/CEO of Bank PHB, Mr. Francis Atuche has held out to the bitter end.
The banks that will be affected by the shake up are BankPHB Plc, Spring Bank Plc, Equitorial Trust Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc and Unity Bank Plc.
The announcement will be made by CBN’s Deputy Governor, Operations, Mr. Tunde Lemo who will be standing in for the Bank’s Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Sanusi it was confirmed left for Ankara, Turkey this morning on a British Airways flight to attend the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Speaking to THISDAY a few minutes ago, Atuche denied newspaper reports (not THISDAY) this morning that he has resigned his position from the bank.
Specifically, he said he wrote a thank you letter to his staff, preparatory for the CBN announcement this afternoon on his removal as BankPHB’s CEO.
“Contrary to reports today, I have not resigned from the bank. I simply wrote a thank you letter, a valedictory letter, in readiness for whatever the CBN wants to do,” he said.
He said he has had a very interesting six weeks and “has seen the other side of midnight” but is taking whatever the outcome will be this afternoon in good faith.

Full Gist:- http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=155990

As Lemo Reads the Riot Act to Five Banks…


As the Central Bank of Nigeria prepares to make its announcement this afternoon on the second round of intervention in five of the 14 banks for which it has concluded the special audit exercise commenced on the 14 last August, the Managing Director/CEO of Bank PHB, Mr. Francis Atuche has held out to the bitter end.

The banks that will be affected by the shake up are BankPHB Plc, Spring Bank Plc, Equitorial Trust Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc and Unity Bank Plc.
The announcement will be made by CBN’s Deputy Governor, Operations, Mr. Tunde Lemo who will be standing in for the Bank’s Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Sanusi it was confirmed left for Ankara, Turkey this morning on a British Airways flight to attend the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Speaking to THISDAY a few minutes ago, Atuche denied newspaper reports (not THISDAY) this morning that he has resigned his position from the bank.

Specifically, he said he wrote a thank you letter to his staff, preparatory for the CBN announcement this afternoon on his removal as BankPHB’s CEO.

“Contrary to reports today, I have not resigned from the bank. I simply wrote a thank you letter, a valedictory letter, in readiness for whatever the CBN wants to do,” he said.

He said he has had a very interesting six weeks and “has seen the other side of midnight” but is taking whatever the outcome will be this afternoon in good faith.

When asked if he will attend the meeting convened by the CBN today with the affected five banks, he answered in the affirmative. “Yes I will be there. I have no reason to stay away,” he stated.

[b]Atuche has been fighting the battle of his life for well over a week to retain his position as MD/CEO of BankPHB.

Last Monday, the chairman of the bank, Mr. Kola Abiola who saw the writing on the wall and based on feelers from the CBN, had advised him to resign, which he initially said he would consider but later bluntly refused to step down.

This got to a head on Wednesday, this week, when some directors of the banks held a meeting (not board meeting) at the premises of Spring Bank, a subsidiary of BankPHB.

At the meeting, Abiola once again raised the issue of Atuche’s resignation which he rejected a second time with the backing of other directors.
Atuche, after the meeting, promptly left Lagos for Abuja to solicit the support of high ranking government officials to intercede on his behalf with the CBN governor. But it was too little too late.

Had he accepted the offer on the table to resign voluntarily on Wednesday, BankPHB’s board would have appointed their own MD/CEO and would have been saved the embarrassment of having a new executive management appointed for them by the CBN.

BankPHB’s problems are not unconnected to acquisition of the crisis-ridden Spring Bank last year. The acquisition resulted in huge holes in the books of BankPHB.[/b]

The second round of intervention by the CBN entails the injection of N200 billion in the five banks and the removal of the executive management of three of them.

The three banks whose executive management will be removed this afternoon are BankPHB, Spring Bank and Equitorial Trust Bank who will be replaced by a new team to be announced by the CBN today.

The audit exercise showed that all three banks are illiquid and their capital adequacy ratios failed to meet the minimum stipulated requirement.
In the case of Wema and Unity Banks, their management will not be removed, but both banks will get capital injections from the CBN.

The management of both banks are being let off the hook for two reasons. In the case of Unity Bank, the audit showed that even though its capital adequacy fell below the minimum stipulated requirement, it was sufficiently liquid, and was therefore advised by the CBN to raise additional capital.

It was given till June next year to meet the minimum capital adequacy ratio of 10 per cent as stipulated by the CBN.

With respect to Wema Bank, the bank’s management is being left in place because it is a new team that took over the bank barely six months ago after the O’dua Group which previously held a substantial stake in the bank sold it to new shareholders, a consortium called the SW8.
The management of Wema Bank has also been advised by the CBN to raise fresh capital.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=155990

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