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Skye Bank Licence Revocation: CBN Governor Full statement – This is a reality story. It’s true, Polaris Bank takes over the management of Skye Bank Plc. Various media post have this captioned as, CBN revokes Skye Bank’s licence, unveils Polaris Bank, Breaking: CBN revokes Skye Bank’s licence, Bank of Nigeria has revoked the licence of Skye Bank Plc, Skye Bank dead, Polaris Bank takes over, and CBN Revokes Skye Bank Licence, Directs AMCON To Begin Sale.

In our previous article – CBN Revokes Skye Bank Plc Licence But Retains Staff, we gave the hint of what happened. But here we have the full details of the CBN Governor’s text on this matter.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has revoked the operating licence of Skye Bank Plc – Consequently, Polaris Bank has taken over the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank

CBN  says it revoked Skye Bank’s licence because the bank requires urgent recapitalisation. Polaris Bank has taken over the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria said yesterday.

Consequently, the CBN revoked the operating licence of Skye Bank Plc with immediate effect. Governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this during a press briefing in Lagos on Friday, yesterday. Emefiele said the decision was reached following the inability of the owners of the bank to shore up the capital of the distressed bank which had earlier received a N350 billion intervention in July 2016.

Polaris is a bridge bank set up in concert with NDIC and AMCON and the unveiling was a guarded secret until Emefiele’s announcement in Lagos yesterday. Here is the full statement by CBN governor Godwin Emefiele

 “You will recall that on 4th July 2016, we took a regulatory action on Skye bank Nigeria PLC. Specifically, this action led to the resignation of 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 “At that time the proactive action was informed by unacceptable corporate governance lapses as well as the persistent failure of Skye Bank PLC to meet minimum thresholds in critical prudential and adequacy ratios, which culminated in the bank’s permanent presence at the CBN Lending Window.

 “The focus of the action then was to save depositors’ funds and to ensure that the bank continued as a going concern, being a systemically important bank. Part of our intention was also to stem the imminent job losses to staff if a liquidation option had been adopted. These objectives have been fully achieved and the bank has been able to meet customer obligations, having curtailed the liquidity haemorrhage and restored depositor confidence.

“Indeed, the bank’s performance has improved considerably compared to the pre-July 2016 era. “The result of our examinations and forensic audit of the bank has, however, revealed that Skye bank requires urgent recapitalisation as it can no longer continue to live on borrowed times with indefinite liquidity support from the CBN.

“As a responsible and responsive regulator and in consultation with the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), we have decided to establish a bridge bank, Polaris Bank, to assume the assets and liabilities of Skye bank. The strategy is for the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to capitalize the Bridge Bank and begin the process of sourcing investors to buy out AMCON. By this decision, the licence of the defunct Skye Bank is hereby revoked.

“We wish to assure all depositors that under this arrangement, their deposits shall remain safe and that normal banking services shall continue in the new bank on Monday, 24th September, 2018, to enable customers to transact their businesses seamlessly.

“Thus, all customers of Skye Bank shall be automatic customers of the new bank and their accounts and records duly purchased by Polaris Bank.

 “Given the good performance of the board and management, the CBN shall retain them. In addition, all employees of Skye Bank shall be absorbed by Polaris Bank under a new contract unless any employee decides to opt out. “We wish to assure the general public that the Nigerian banking industry remains safe and resilient and that the CBN will continue to live up to its responsibilities of promoting stability in the banking and financial system.”

The CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, made these disclosure during a news conference in Lagos yesterday.

Skye Bank Licence Revocation: CBN Governor Full statement

• Skye Bank Plc is dead,
• Polaris Bak takes over
• Skye Bank Management team saved
• Bank Staff saved
• Skye Bak Customers saved

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Skye Bank Licence Revocation: CBN Governor Full statement