Since the audit results of the remaining 14 Nigerian banks was announced earlier in the month, there has been much speculation about foreign take-overs of the troubled institutions, as well as mergers within the sector. Going forward, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will also have to actively manage the financial health of the banks and make sure they don’t find themselves in such a situation again.

After the audit findings on the first 10 of Nigeria’s 24 banks were revealed in the middle of August, the market has been holding its breath for the results of the 14 remaining banks.

On 2 October, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that four more banks – Bank PHB, Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB), Spring Bank, and Wema Bank – were undercapitalized, in a poor liquidity position, and in what the CBN called a “grave situation”. A fifth bank – Unity Bank – was adjudged to have insufficient capital but a healthy liquidity position.

The CBN said it will inject N200 billion (US$1.3 billion) into the four distressed banks to stabilize them. This is in addition to the N420 billion ($2.8 billion) released to the five banks – Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank, AfriBank, Finbank and Union Bank – found to be in trouble after the first round of audits. The managing directors and executive directors of Spring Bank, Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB), and Bank PHB have also been removed. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Absa, Afribank, Aliko Dangote, Atiku Abubakar, Bank PHB, Banking, Barclays, CBN, Central Bank of Nigeria, Chukwuma Soludo, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Equitorial Trust Bank, ETB, FinBank, FirstRand, Gunther Kuschke, IBTC, Intercontinental Bank, Investment Banking and Trust Company, Jacko Maree, Lamido Sanusi, Mohammed Abdullahi, Nedbank, Nigeria, Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Oceanic Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Razia Khan, South Africa, Spring Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Standard Chartered, Union Bank, Unity Bank, Wema Bank