Culled from Sanusi Lamido's interniew hours after he announced the sack of MD's ans ED's of five banks

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=151730

Thisday: Your investigation was done on ten banks in the first instance. So, are we expecting more? When will the remaining banks face the audit?
Sanusi: The examiner can do a routine examination or a special examination. We ordered a special investigation of these banks because of what we saw and then because of a general perception in the market. The results are coming out and the banks are taking actions. I can tell you that in the next couple of weeks, we would have done 24 banks.

Thisday: So, you have a fair view of what the remaining banks look like?
Sanusi: I have a fair view. I have always had a fair view of what all the 24 banks look like.

Thisday: What will happen if you go in there and you find out that the other banks unaffected now show worse signs than the ones you have done?
Sanusi: If I find that and I don’t think so. You see, in this business, I’m a professional. If a bank is sick, there are signs. If a bank is sick, the signs are self-evident. You will see high interest rates. You will know it from their cash flow. You will know it from movement in balance sheet action. You will know it from the kind of customers from their customer profile. It is on that basis that I can say that the banks we have taken out address substantially the problems in the Nigerian banking industry.

Thisday: How will the CBN manage the public perception of this action? People are afraid that banks are failing.
Sanusi: Part of why I’m having this meeting is to get that opportunity to lay to rest peoples’ fear. A banking system can collapse if we do not swiftly address problems. When an institution has the kind of exposure that we have seen, it is very important that you act to save that institution. For us at the CBN, what we have done is to strengthen the system. By the time we provide the capital and provide new management, we have strengthened it. It is about what kind of message we send out. In any event, we are going to ensure that the banks are well funded. We will ensure that nobody will keep money and cannot take out his money. We believe that there will be no problem. The final thing that I will say is that very often the fear of unintended consequences had stopped people from taking action. The question is if we did not take action, what is going to happen? For me, that was the question I had to agonise over.


What are your thoughts?