The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation has said that employees
of the defunct Skye Bank Plc would be offered new contract terms under
the management of Polaris Bank.
The Corporation said this in a statement made available to our
correspondent on Saturday and signed by the Head Communications and
Public Affairs, Mohammed Kudu.
The Central Bank had on Friday revoked the operating licence of Skye Bank Plc with immediate effect.
Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said during a press briefing
in Lagos that Skye Bank would now be taken over by Polaris Bank, which
would take over all the assets and liabilities of the defunct entity.
The NDIC in the statement said following the revocation of the operating
license of Skye Bank by the CBN, the NDIC has commenced the processes
for its liquidation.
The statement reads in part, “The NDIC carried out the Bridge Bank
option to resolve the Skye Bank Plc in order make certain that its
depositors are fully protected as their deposits with Polaris Bank
limited remain insured under the NDIC Act.
“The customers of Skye Bank Plc can also continue to transact their
businesses with Polaris Bank Limited thereby ensuring the non-disruption
of their banking transactions.
“Furthermore, the adoption of the Bridge Bank model for the resolution
Skye Bank Plc, guarantees that most of the employees of that bank will
not lose their jobs and they will continue their employment with POLARIS
Bank Limited under fresh contracts of employment.
“The NDIC, as Deposit Insurer, acted to ensure the continued safety of
depositor’s funds and to proactively manage potential threats to
financial system stability.”
Emefiele had said the decision to revoke the licence of the old bank was
taken following the inability of the owners of the bank to shore up the
capital of the distressed bank which had earlier received a N350bn
intervention in July 2016.
He said, “Skye Bank requires urgent recapitalisation as it can no
longer continue to live on borrowed times with indefinite liquidity
support from the CBN. We have decided to establish a bridge bank,
Polaris Bank, to assume the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank.
“The strategy is for AMCON to capitalise the bridge bank and begin the
process of sourcing for investors to buy out AMCON. By this decision,
the licence of Skye Bank is hereby revoked.”
Emefiele recalled that on July 4, 2016, the CBN took a regulatory action
on Skye Bank that led to the resignation of its chairman, all
non-executive directors on its board as well as the managing director,
deputy managing director, and the two longest-serving executive
directors on the management team.
At that time, he added, the action was informed by the unacceptable
corporate governance lapses as well as the persistent failure of the
bank to meet minimum thresholds in critical prudential and adequacy
ratios, which culminated in the bank’s permanent presence at the CBN
lending window.