By Dipo Olowookere
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is yet to fully register Polaris Bank Limited, the bridge bank it announced for the defunct Skye Bank Plc, Business Post has confirmed.
Last Friday, the apex bank withdrew the operating license of Skye Bank after running its affairs for over two years.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had disclosed that Polaris Bank Limited would take over the assets and liabilities of the collapsed financial institution.
However, a check by Business Post on the registration status of Polaris Bank Ltd on Monday, September 24, 2018, showed that the bank was still undergoing registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the agency saddled with the responsibility of registering businesses in Nigeria.
A search on the online portal of the CAC showed that Polaris Bank Limited was yet to be assigned with a registration number.
Though federal government claims business registration takes about 48 hours to complete, in reality, it sometimes takes a week to finish the process, going by few this newspaper has witnessed.
Efforts by Business Post to reach out to the CBN through its spokesman, Mr Isaac Okorafor, on why the bridge bank was not fully registered before taking over Skye Bank were futile.
However, as at the time of filing this report, the former web address of Skye Bank Plc, www.skyebankng,com, was already redirecting to www.polarisbanklimited.com with the old name still visible on the new website as seen in the picture below.
It was a big experience then but it’s now a story
As true as the assertions on this post sounds, think CBN has a reason and will regularize to this effect as soon as possible.
What matters for now is that depositors funds are intact as well they can access same anytime without hitches.
However felt so concerned that CBN could not communicate the public the actual true state of affairs for the past two years, their propaganda was just skeletal, they assured all that the bank was in shape despite rescuing her financially. Somehow…. What about the shareholders funds? Pathetic….