1. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would like to inform
the general public of its decision to effect changes in key personnel on the
Board and Management of Skye Bank PLC with effect from today Monday, 4th July
2016. Specifically, these changes relate to the Chairman, all Non-Executive
Directors on the Board as well as the Managing Director, Deputy Managing
Director, and the two longest-serving Executive Directors on the Management
Team.
2. These proactive moves have become unavoidable in view of
the persistent failure of Skye Bank PLC to meet minimum thresholds in critical
prudential and adequacy ratios, which has culminated in the bank’s permanent
presence at the CBN Lending Window. In particular, Skye Bank’s Liquidity and
Non-performing loan Ratios have been 2 below and above the required thresholds,
respectively, for quite a while.
3. To correct the anomalies in the bank, the CBN had several
meetings with the management and board of Skye bank as part of our strategy of
close engagement whenever a bank’s financial or governance situation poses
potential threats to the overall stability of our financial system. Despite the
expectation of relevant regulators, market watchers, financial analysts and
interested stakeholders that Skye Bank should be doing much better than it is
right now, we have seen about the opposite in reality. Given the aforementioned
issues and the fact that Skye bank is a Domestic Systematically Important Bank
(SIB) with significant interconnectedness, the CBN would be failing in its
duties if it does not take immediate action to nip the steadily declining
health of the bank in the bud and correct the situation. In view of the long
grace period allowed the bank to correct the situation, we came to the
conclusion that, although the existing board had done its best to steer the
ship it had come to a realization that it would be unable to bring the bank out
of its present precarious situation. Fortunately, and in the overall interest
of the bank, the 3 Chairman and some board members have decided to resign their
appointments from the bank.
4. Consequently, by virtue of the powers vested in the
Governor of the CBN, we have decided to reconstitute the Board and Management
of the bank, and appoint new members with the sole responsibility of ensuring
the speedy restoration of the health of the bank.
5. To this effect, the Chairman of the Board, all other
Non-Executive Directors, the Independent Director, the Managing Director, the
Deputy Managing Director and two longest serving Executive Directors have
voluntarily resigned their appointments with immediate effect. In their place,
we have selected industry experts and people of high integrity whom we believe
can turn the bank around. In this regard, we have selected Alh. M. K. Ahmad to
be the new Chairman while Mr. Adetokunbo Abiru would be the new Managing
Director. The more recent executive directors will be allowed to remain to
ensure continuity and a smooth transition.
6. As some of you may know, Alh. M. K. Ahmad is a seasoned
public sector executive with over 35 years of distinguished experience spanning
the public sector and the financial services industry. He served as the pioneer
Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Pension 4
Commission (PENCOM). He was also a pioneer staff of the Nigeria Deposit
Insurance Company (NDIC) where he rose to become a Director. He has also served
on the Board of various companies and committees including banks and
notfor-profit organizations. Similarly, Mr. Abiru is a seasoned accountant and
banker and was until recently an Executive Director in First Bank PLC. He was
also Lagos State Commissioner of Finance from 2011 to 2013. Mr. Abiru is a
Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
7. It will be
recalled that the medium-term vision of the CBN, which was unveiled in June
2014, indicated that the bank would proactively manage potential threats to
financial stability, maintain zero tolerance on practices that undermine the
health of financial institutions, and create a strong governance regime that is
conducive for financial intermediation, innovative finance and inclusiveness.
It is in furtherance of these commitments that the CBN has made the changes and
assures the incoming Board and Management of its unflinching support during
this transition period. It is important to reiterate the fact that Skye Bank is
not in distress and remains a healthy bank in the system. The CBN 5 hereby
assures depositors, shareholders and all relevant stakeholders that there is no
reason for concern or panic as we seek their continued cooperation at this
time.
8. It is our expectation that the shareholders and remaining
Executive Directors will work seamlessly with the new team to ensure that the
fortunes of the bank are restored in the shortest possible time.
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