The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Asset Management Company of Nigeria have formally stated that Strategic Capital Investment Limited has received 100% ownership of Polaris Bank.
The House of Representatives also approved the sale of the bank after determining that the acquisition followed the established protocol and received the necessary presidential clearance.
The Controversy
The bank was acquired as a result of its failure to achieve minimum capital requirements. The bank had been under distress for some time. But The CBN has been looking to sell the bank for months. This was after the Central bank pumped 1.3 trillion to try and revive the Bank, and sold it later to a company incorporated only five months ago
Looking forward
According to a news release released on the CBN’s website on Thursday, October 20, 2002, and signed on behalf of the CBN and AMCON by its Director, Corporate Communications Department, Osita Nwanisobi, SCIL would repay entirely the sum of N1.305 trillion in consideration bonds injected by the CBN.
This means that SCIL will have to pay Polaris Bank around N52 billion every year to redeem the bonds issued by AMCON. To repay the loans, the bank must earn revenues in excess of N60 billion.
A short history
Polaris Bank was founded on September 21, 2018 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide commercial banking services to the Nigerian public. The bank began operations on the same day after purchasing the assets and certain liabilities of the defunct Skye Bank.