₦airaland Forum

SSS quizzes ETB MD, seizes passports of Bank PHB directors

Indications emerged yesterday that four out of the 11 banks whose accounts were recently audited by the Central Bank of Nigeria may have more questions to answer ahead of the CBN Committee of Governors' meeting, which holds next week to take the final decision on the report of the special examinations ordered by the apex bank. The affected banks are believed to be Spring Bank Plc, Bank PHB Plc, Equitorial Trust Bank and Wema Bank Plc. Ripples from the outcome of the CBN examination are already being felt in banking circles as the State Security Service on Thursday quizzed the Managing Director of Equitorial Trust Bank, Ike Oraekwuotu, and seized the international passport of Managing Director of Bank PHB as well as those of the bank's four executive directors.

The move by the security agency is believed to be a pre-emptive measure not unconnected with the ongoing banking reforms. The 11 banks, whose recent audits have been completed by the CBN are Skye, Bank PHB, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Spring Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Unity Bank Plc, and ETB. THISDAY gathered that on completion of the audit of the second batch of the 24 banks in the country, four of them namely - Spring Bank Plc, Bank PHB Plc, Equitorial Trust Bank and Wema Bank Plc were said to have failed in some of the parameters set by the CBN.

The general parameters upon which the examination of the banks' records was based include capital adequacy, liquidity, solvency and corporate governance. THISDAY gathered that based on the advice of the CBN solicitors, due process was followed during the audit process as the respective chief executive officers of the affected banks were allowed to go through reports arising from the audit and make adequate responses to them. Sources however said the responses of the bank CEOs have not been able to change the course of the decisions by the CBN.

However, the CBN may have decided to change gear in handling the situation in the affected four banks. Unlike the method it adopted on August 14 when it specifically removed the CEOs and executive directors of the five banks affected in the first batch of the audit, the apex bank may have decided to let the board of directors of the four banks found wanting in the latest audit to implement the tough decisions necessary to put the banks in order. The banks' boards will be mandated to carry out certain measures to be dictated by CBN in accordance with the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) and the CBN Act. For example, THISDAY gathered that Wema Bank, which was acquired by SW8 Investment Limited about four months ago - with a new management led by Segun Oloketuyi, would be allowed to continue operations but will be closely monitored by the CBN.

The bank may be given more time to raise funds to shore up its capital base.   When the new Wema Bank management moved in, it promised to inject more funds over a period of time. But the management was said to be having challenges raising funds both locally and internationally as a result of the downturn in the stock market and dearth of funds at the international market that had been ravaged by the global meltdown respectively. In the case of Bank PHB, whose MD, Francis Atuche held two meetings with the CBN in Abuja in the last two weeks, it was alleged that the loan loss provisioning may be impacting on its solvency. However the bank is making spirited moves to persuade CBN to the contrary and to indicate that most of its loans are now performing.

This development was said to have prompted Bank PHB to hold a board meeting last Thursday, where all these issues were tabled. Bank PHB was said to have gotten its hands burnt through the acquisition of Spring Bank Plc, which was said to have had a couple of holes in its books. This, among other issues that rocked the bank some months ago, led to the sack of two of its Executive Directors. Contacted last night, a top official of the bank, who confirmed the seizure of the international passports of Atuche and his EDs, however, insisted that Bank PHB successfully responded to most of the issues raised by the CBN and as such does not have to raise more capital. As for ETB, the situation remains unclear but the Managing Director was interrogated by the SSS?last Thursday.   An official of ETB who spoke with THISDAY last night also confirmed the interrogation of the CEO by the SSS last Thursday.

Spring Bank, which was acquired by Bank PHB, was also said to be having some challenges. Meanwhile, the officials of Bank PHB, which had their passports seized by the SSS are its Managing Director, Francis Atuche; Executive Director, North Bank, West, Central and East Africa, Ahmed Kuru; Executive Director, Lagos Directorate, Julius Okotako; Executive Director, South Directorate, I. G. Ukpaka, and Executive Director, Service Bank, Eddy Ogboru.

THISDAY gathered that the seizure by the agency was based on instructions from the SSS head office in Abuja and that managements of the two banks are being placed under close watch pending the time the results of the audit of the 14 banks are announced by the CBN. THISDAY gathered that any of the bank executive whose passports were seized would have to apply to the CBN for clearance before they could travel out of the country. The CBN had a few weeks ago, insisted that there would be no surprises in the audit of the second batch of banks to warrant major systemic shifts like the removal of bank chief executive officers. But current unfolding events may however prove otherwise. The examination of the 11 banks was conducted by a joint team of CBN and the National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

Shortly after his appointment as CBN Governor last June, CBN governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, had ordered the special examination of all commercial banks in the country to determine their level of exposure to margin loans and the oil and gas sector in a bid to determine their solvency and capacity to continue as going concerns. The CBN had initially restricted its examination to 11 banks because the other three - Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank and Stanbic IBTC - are foreign banks, and it does not anticipate that their exposure to non-performing loans will have any significant impact on the market.

Speaking at an interactive session with the capital market community on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last Wednesday, Sanusi said the audit of the remaining three (Stanbic Chartered, Stanbic IBTC, and Citibank) began last Wednesday. "Each bank was examined by 10 examiners, five from CBN, and five from the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). I have not finished looking at the reports," Lamido added. He said the results of the audit would be made public early next month.

http://www.proshareng.com/news/singleNews.php?id=7523

A man said on one of these FMs I was listening recently that when the military were destroying the country and people were calling for them to quit the stage,the northerners said it was an effort to sabotage the northern government and now that banks are distress and are being loaned money they say it's an attempt to sabbotage the south/west.Are they saying that military dictatorship is a northern thing and money laudering a south/western thing?When nobody is doing nothing they will say nobody is doing nothing and when somebody wants to do something they will say he is representing an interest.
He also said that he does'nt see himself as a northerner but a Nigerian and that the action he took was the necessary one and he would be responsible for it's outcome even if it means resigning.
This is was I got from his interview that day.How can a man be sincere again?
MAKE THIS THIEF CARRY HIMSELF COME ACCOUNT FOR PEOPLE MONEY WEY THEY BEEN PUT UNDER HIM CARE OH!If him like make e go meet Obama make them allow FBI escort am come back,EFCC is HERE waiting for his returns.Criminal!Him want stylishly canvass for public support e no go work.

The cross river state police command has alerted inhabitants of the state to the existence of mobile phone guns that can expose them to danger.
The police PRO,Mr Etim Dickson,who gave the warning yesterday,said the gun was heavier than narmal cell phones.
He said members of the pulic should cooporate with the police in their stop and search duties for the detection of this deadly weapons.
The police PRO said,:we want to draw the attention of the public to the existences of mobile phone guns which have the following features,it's heavier than normal phones,it is capable of firing 4 rounds of .22 calibre of ammunition in quick succession and it uses the phone keypad 5-8 as it's trigger.

Sources:tuesday guardian 08-09-09.Backpage.

we don finsh for this contry,hope it would'nt further inform the criminal we are expose sha.

That guy's got reputation and he's about to ruin it.I'm afraid i might not like him again when he goes there and messes thing up for himself cos every has already gone bad and even if the circumstances were to be normal,he wont make it cos he's not a coach.

That's it!!!!!no other org will do that next time without thinking twice.



@theseeker,you have just decided that you won't beleive any good thing will ever happen in this country,you should'nt be too persimstic about naija like that now,it's not fair.Just beleive and we will get there one day.

na wow 4 my country oh!Na which kind animals we come get as law makers now.Is there no other way for him to politely identify himself again,abi him hang tag 4 neck b4 the security no see am?'No matter the amount of honey wey you add to neem ego still bitter'even the money wey them dey still no fit change him toutish personality.

"Not good enough! Unless they're still believing that this AD came about by mistake.

First, the Federal Government should cancel the contract for the Refurbishing of NTA OB Vans. Directly or indirectly, this takes millions of dollars off the pocket of Sony.

Secondly, an embargo should be placed on all Sony goods coming into the country.


You don't come at this kind of disrespect with long words." You have said it all.

To me,It does expetially when there's no chance of meeting regularly to correct it.But when there are chances of meeting regularly it could be corrected.

Restin Peace Chief Gani!!

na wow oh!!!!this na where ordinary innocent people dey since wey no body care,naim she come dey shout like say she don reach one month 4 there.She might be innocent sha but @ least she go don get the feel of wetin poor innocent people the suffer.Maybe she will suggest visiting cells/prisons to board members of her former bank as part of there corporate social responsibility.

No i did'nt but even if I were asked to stay after POP i wouldnt have agreed because I served with LG secretariat and I was not impressed with what I saw/discovered about Nig LG's then.it's just a place where people come and distribute money without necessarily doing anything that's worth it.I thing working there is more or less like staying idle.

The last time a general requested for this same thing it cost him his life.General Sani Abacha died after this same kind of request.If we decide to grant him his request,he might die with it too because he is the devil himself.Infact we are struggling to get out of the mess he created of this country.That's why his prayer request is not needed.

Just assumes you are married and another guy is doing that to your wife,that alone should keep you away 4rm her till after camp when the gist of fun she heard about camp before coming is clear from her head and she's back to her senses.cos she'l surely regain her sanity after then.

I prefere not to delve into matters like this most time because it touches a lot of peoples sentiments and I don't like that.But then,I will like to state hear that we Nigerians like taking undue advantage of our fellow country men/women(s) illitracy and the fact that we believe anything  from clergies and co so long as we are coned to think that it's from God.If not how do you explain somebody with private jet still exploiting pple that most times do not even have complete transports for Okada to church?But God dey sha and 1 day everyman go answer 4 himself

US, always pokenosing in other country's affairs!where were all these CIA agents and possible war prediction team on sept 11?common Osama they cannot caught.(catch).I no say a lot of our run away brodas dey always used mouth share naija instead of to follow plan seriously how to eliminate all these thieves we have as leaders.God dey sha and America no matter how hard they try cannot break naija.weda dey use mind,head,heart,leg,spiritual or even physical game.Na my opinion sha and it's my entitlement.