Soludo commends Intercontinental Bank

Posted to the Web: Tuesday, August 14, 2007



ABUJA — Central Bank (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has poured encomiums on Intercontinental Bank Plc for its achievement as the first bank in Nigeria to cross the $1 billion capital mark.

Prof. Soludo made the commendation while receiving the board and management of the bank who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja last week.
According to the CBN Governor, “I wish to congratulate the board and management for your achievements.

“As soon as the result of The Banker Magazine ranking was released, I got a call from London informing me of your achievement and I called your Chairman immediately to congratulate him.
You have dared, you have overcome, you are still soaring and you have lived up to your name, Intercontinental. I want to again congratulate your board and management,” he said.

Intercontinental is rated the world’s second fastest growing bank by The Banker Magazine which also ranked it the number one bank in Nigeria, number five in Africa and the 355th biggest bank in the world by first tier capital.

According to Soludo, the CBN will honour the pledge it made last year to allocate an extra $500 million of the nation’s foreign reserve to the first bank that crosses the $1 billion (N130 billion) mark in tier one capital, to manage.
He said: “Yes we made a promise on allocation of foreign reserve management and the promise, we are bound to keep.”

Dr. Raymond Obieri, Chairman, Intercontinental Bank, who led the delegation thanked Prof. Soludo for his foresight and courage, adding that the mission of the visit was to thank him and also inform him and his team about the rating of the bank by The Banker Magazine.

He described the award as an honour to the Central Bank. But Soludo noted: “I would want to put the credit back to you people for this achievement. It has made our job easier, because you people took up the challenge and survived to become the leader. You have showed character and capacity.”

According to the bank’s Group Chief Executive,  Dr. Erastus Akingbola, the bank’s global rating is the fulfillment of the vision which the bank set for itself three years ago, adding that the management had set a new vision for itself to be number one in Nigeria, number one in Africa and among the first 100 in the world.

http://www.thebanker.com/cp/34/p165table.jpg

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/august07/14082007/f514082007.html

Congrats to them for a great achievement. It is not easy to set a target and achieve it.

Meanwhile, i want to ask anyone that has their (Intercontinental BAnk) master Card especially the new prepaid master card. Is it generally accepted for online (Internet) payments.

Am about processing one and i learnt that GTB master card is not generally accepted online so am skeptical about this.

Pls help it's urgent.