Following the revocation of the licence of Heritage Bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to also terminate the licences of three other banks, our correspondent has been reliably informed.
The three affected banks are Unity Bank, Keystone Bank and Polaris Bank, a reliable source in the apex bank informed TheScrutinyNG on Monday.
Our correspondent gathered that the affected banks “have been on life support for a long time and the CBN has no choice than to stop the treatment as they have no chances of survival”.
“The truth is, it took great pain for the CBN to announce the revocation of the licence of Heritage Bank. They did it as a last resort because they believe that doing so may send panic among Nigerians, which may in turn, have a negative impact on the economy”.
“In the next few days, the revocation of the licences of UnityBank, Keystone Bank and Polaris Bank will also be announced. There is a need to clean the Aegean stable before the recapitalisation exercise of the existing banks which is inevitable”.
TheScrutinyNG also gathered that CBN spent billions of naira to rescue corporate clients who deposited funds with Heritage Bank.
When asked if the CBN will pay customers who have deposits with the defunct Heritage Bank, our source said depositors with billions of investments have already been taken care of.
“The CBN has already rescued corporate clients with Heritage Bank. I am talking of those with billions not small savers. For the small savers, let’s see what the NDIC will do but as you know that usually takes a long time” he said.
Efforts made to reach Sidi Hakama, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, proved abortive as several calls to her line were not answered.
Our correspondent also sent text messages to her line which were not responded to.
Finance correspondents covering the activities of the CBN said she has a penchant for not responding to emquiries.
Recall that in January this year, the CBN sacked the boards of Union Bank of Nigeria, Keystone Bank and Polaris Bank over infractions. The apex bank said that the action became necessary as their actions posed a threat to financial stability.