“There Must be a Probe”: Heritage Bank Shareholders Demand Investigation After CBN Action

• A few minority shareholders have requested that the board and management of the now-defunct Heritage Bank be looked into
• The National Coordinator of the Progressive Shareholders Association said Interrogating the bank managers would increase confidence
• According to him, the CBN is also a contributing factor to the system's issues; if the bank had become insolvent over time and been forced to rely on CBN

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over three years of experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

The minority shareholders have demanded an investigation into the board and management of the defunct Heritage Bank.

The call was placed during a chat session with The Punch after the Central Bank of Nigeria revoked the bank's license.

Boniface Okezie, the National Coordinator of Progressive Shareholders Association, said probing the bank managers would boost confidence in the sector.

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He said:

“CBN is also part of the problem in the system, if the bank had been insolvent over the years and they had been living under the mercy of CBN, which should have taken action. In all this, what is the role of AMCON? They should have taken over the bank after all, the bank was also paying a levy to AMCON. Instead, CBN has directed NDIC to take over for liquidation. Is that the way to go?"

According to Okezie, the managers and directors would be held accountable in other climes.

“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.”

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Additionally, Moses Igbrude, the National Coordinator of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, declared that an investigation of the bank's management was necessary. He believed that if people are let off the hook, the problem will recur, so it should not be ignored.

He added that the regulator's conclusion was in accordance with its legal duty, but he was concerned about how long it took to make the judgment.

“The CBN is the regulator, empowered by law to supervise, to know which bank is healthy and which is not, so they are just doing their job. However, why did it take so long to do what is necessary?

“Also, they had another option to rescue the bank, remove the management, and put in place a CBN-led management to ensure it is standing and no one loses anything. At the end of the day, they sell it to Nigerians. This option would retain the employees."

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It was an option but they decided to revoke the licence,” he opined.

CBN denies closing down three commercial banks

Legit.ng reported that the CBN has no plans to revoke the licenses of Unity, Polaris and Keystone banks.

Online reports, not by Legit.ng, claimed that the central bank would revoke the licenses of the three banks, similar to Heritage Bank.

In reaction, CBN posted on its social media pages on Tuesday, June 4, that the content first published by the Scrutiny was fake.

Source: Legit.ng