In the wake of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revocation of Heritage Bank License, some shareholders have called for thorough investigation of the bank’s management.
Boniface Okezie, National Coordinator of the Progressive Shareholders Association, emphasized on the need to investigate the bank to restore confidence in the banking sector.
Speaking with Punch, he said,
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“What is the fate of some other banks in the sector? Are they strong and viable? They should tell us. The management should be called for questioning. Those who ran the bank aground should be called for questioning. It is not enough that NDIC should liquidate.
“There must be a probe to recover people’s money. What assets does the bank have? CBN should probe the collapse of the bank so that others can learn. This is not good enough, something has to be done to arrest the situation.”
Recall that the CBN revoked the Heritage bank’s license, stating that such move was necessitated because the board management have not been able to improve the bank’s financial performance.
The CBN also cited the bank’s persistent financial instability as a critical factor, endangering the nation’s financial system.
Also, calling for probe of the bank, National coordinator of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Moses Igbrude urged for the CBN not to let the matter slide. He said getting to the root cause of the revocation of the bank’s license was necessary to prevent such issue from happening again.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has announced plans to pay the bank’s customers who have less than 5 million in their bank account first, while other customers will be paid once the bank’s assets have been sold. The decision to appoint the NDIC as the liquidator of Heritage Bank further underscores the severity of the situation.
Notably, in a series of posts made on X posts, Labour Party presidential aspirant in the last election, Peter Obi said the closure of the bank will have “a far-reaching impact” on the economy.
He wrote,
“The latest CBN’s revocation order on Heritage Bank’s operating license and subsequent appointment of NDIC as liquidator of its assets though affirmed by the regulators as necessary at this point to enhance financial stability, has a far-reaching impact on the bank’s depositors.
“Given the harsh economic realities in the country now, I will urge the federal government via NDIC to ensure immediate payment of all depositors in Heritage Bank in full to help alleviate the prevailing hardship the people are going through in the country. Many individual savers and SMEs are already groaning under severe negative effects of the economy and already living in abject poverty. These depositors depend on the savings they have in the now-liquidated bank to survive.”
He further stated that anything short of immediate and full payment can create panic in the banking sector which the already fragile economy cannot afford.