Banking
Skye Bank On Edge Of Total Collapse?
By Dipo Olowookere
It is no doubt that since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) changed the leadership of Skye Bank some weeks ago, the bank has not remained the same again.
Skye Bank and CBN have had to assured depositors and the general public that all is well, trying every possible means to allay the fears of people, especially depositors.
Also, the Lagos State government, which uses the bank for collection of different levies, including for tax collection and payment of workers’ salaries, has also said the bank is healthy. In fact, it told civil servants under its payroll not to close their accounts with the bank.
Vanguard takes a look at the issue and below was what the respected newspaper said on the issue.
Why CBN and Lagos state might fail to save Skye Bank
“SKYE Bank is not distressed.” CBN advert in several newspapers.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Lagos State government have different reasons for desperately averting possible Skye Bank distress. Even the hint of likely distress inhibiting deposits and inviting a run on the bank is not in their interests. For the CBN, the collapse of any bank, at this time, is likely to create collateral damage affecting other banks, governments, the organized private sector and the financial system. So their anxiety on this matter is understandable.
Before the CBN advertisement, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Finance was reported to have told Lagos State employees not to close their accounts with Skye bank.
The report was not clear whether what was issued was an order, a plea, or advice. None of them is without its perils for all concerned – Lagos State, the bank and the employees.
It is questionable if an employer, even a government can issue instructions to its employees regarding the bank to patronize after paying them.
While it might be acceptable for administrative reasons to request all employees to open accounts with a bank for salary transfers, it is doubtful if the state can force the civil servants to keep their money in the designated bank and risk their funds going down in case of distress.
Who then will suffer the consequences?
Advice, the public servants definitely don’t need especially when only the state’s and the bank’s interests will be served by compliance. SKYE bank certainly needs all the deposits it can get – more than ever before.
The state being a major shareholder in the bank also needs the bank to recover the confidence of other stakeholders in order to survive and perhaps improve its performance.
Depositors, including the staff of Lagos state, however, need a different sort of counsel. They need to be honestly informed about the real situation of the bank.
The CBN does not, without reason, order the change of directors and management of a bank unless a lot of things have gone wrong and some individuals charged with the management of the bank were involved – deliberately or inadvertently.
More perplexity is introduced by the fact that the directors and managers removed will apparently walk away without sanctions for putting every other stakeholder at risk.
Hundreds of thousands of depositors of SAVANNAH Bank and SOCIETE GENERALE Bank are still holding to empty air more than ten years after those banks were closed without previous warning from the CBN.
OCEANIC, INTERCONTINENTAL, BANKPHB etc were presented to the public as still strong banks until Sanusi replaced Soludo who helped to keep up the fiction of soundness.
So, why should depositors rely on a CBN which had failed them repeatedly and made them to pay dearly for it? To be quite candid, the last organization to declare a bank distressed is the CBN. Usually by then the depositors have been taken to the cleaners and their funds irretrievably lost.
Lagos state has its own problems with regard to SKYE Bank. Its shares in the bank, which sold for N17.50 per share in October 2008, are now going begging at 65 kobo per share.
The state has lost hundreds of millions of naira on that investment.
The quantum of loss is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the progressive governments since “Con-Soludo-tion” imposed by the CBN under Professor Soludo.
There is no shareholder alive who was not a victim of the calamity called “Con-Soludo-tion”. Lagos State is one of the biggest victims of the rush to acquire shares under “Con-Soludo-tion”, and it is understandable why the current government is eager to minimize the losses.
But, the truth remains. A grave mistake had been made; an error of judgment committed at the topmost levels of government.
As Agathon, 447-401 B.C, has reminded us, “Even God cannot change the past.” Lagos State is unlikely to recover those investments even if Ambode serves a second term.
The statement issued by the Perm Sec, if followed by public servants in the state, carries with it the risk that the state’s funds, now largely lost, will be followed down the drain by those of its staff – if anything goes wrong with SKYE Bank.
That would amount to a great disservice to the workers who were not consulted when the Governor who committed the state took the decision – admittedly in good faith.
But, such is life. There is always a lot of risk in banking. If there is none, everybody will be in banking. There is also a lot of risk in shareholding. If not, everybody will be in that venture too. In Nigeria, the combination of the two had almost always proved painful for a lot of people – except the insiders and manipulators who invariably walk away free. To some extent the reason Nigerian banking appears to be perpetually embroiled in crisis can be traced to our very lax laws which allow directors of banks to get away with their larcenies.
Until we stiffen the penalties for contraventions of banking rules, the nation will reel from one crisis to another.
Finally, it is curious that while others are desperately working to save the bank, its own directors are doing nothing. They are not reaching out to public opinion molders to present their plans for restoration of the bank.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/cbn-lagos-state-might-fail-save-skye-bank/
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc has allotted shares from its public offer of 2025 to investors with valid applications.
The allotment follows the earlier receipt of final approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the recent clearance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In September 2025, the financial institution offered for sale about 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N7.00 per share in public offer.
However, the exercise received wide participation from the investing public, with the company getting 18,280 applications for 16,839,524,401 ordinary shares valued at approximately N117.88 billion.
Following a thorough verification process, valid applications were received from 18,276 shareholders for a total of 13,812,239,000 ordinary shares, representing a subscription level of 109.79 per cent and reflecting sustained confidence in Sterling Holdco’s strategic direction, governance, and long-term growth prospects.
The firm approached the capital market for additional funds for the recapitalisation of its two flagship subsidiaries, Sterling Bank and The Alternative Bank.
The capital injection will support the commencement of full operations and contribute to the group’s revenue diversification objectives.
In line with the guidelines set out in the offer prospectus, Sterling Holdco confirmed that all valid applications will be allotted in full. Every investor who complied with the terms of the offer will receive all the shares for which they applied.
A very small number of applications were not processed or were partially rejected due to non-compliance with the offer terms, including duplicate payments and failure to meet the minimum subscription requirement of 1,000 units or its multiples, as stipulated in the offer documents.
The group ensures a seamless post-offer process, with refunds for excess or rejected applications, along with applicable interest, to be remitted via Real Time Gross Settlement or NIBSS Electronic Funds Transfer directly to the bank accounts detailed in the application forms.
Simultaneously, the electronic allotment of shares has be credited to successful shareholders’ accounts with the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) on February 17, and for applicants who do not currently have CSCS accounts, their allotted shares will be temporarily held in a registrar-managed pool account pending the submission of their completed account opening documentation to Pace Registrars Limited, after which the shares will be transferred to their personal CSCS accounts.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
To drive inclusive growth, strengthen financial stability, and deepen global financial integration across developing economies, there must be coordinated reforms in digital cross-border payments.
This was the submission of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Olayemi Cardoso, at the G‑24 Technical Group Meetings in Abuja on Thursday, February 19, 2026.
According to him, high remittance costs, settlement delays, fragmented systems, and heavy compliance burdens still limit the participation of households and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in global trade.
The central banker emphasised that efficient payment systems are essential for economic inclusion, highlighting that global remittance corridors still incur average costs above 6 per cent, with settlement delays of several days, excluding millions from modern economic activity.
Mr Cardoso cautioned that while digital payments present significant opportunities, they also carry risks such as currency substitution, weakened monetary transmission, increased FX volatility, capital-flow pressures, and regulatory fragmentation.
The G-24 TGM 2026, themed Mobilising finance for sustainable, inclusive, and job-rich transformation, convened global financial stakeholders to advance the modernisation of finance in support of emerging and developing economies.
The CBN chief reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to working with G-24 members, the IMF, the World Bank Group, and other partners to build a more inclusive, resilient, and development-oriented global financial architecture.
“We have strengthened our AML/CFT frameworks in line with FATF guidelines, requiring strict dual-screening of cross-border transactions to mitigate risks.
“To deepen regional integration, the CBN introduced simplified KYC/AML requirements for low-value cross-border transactions to encourage broader participation in PAPSS, easing processes for Nigerian SMEs and enabling faster intra-African trade payments.
“We have also embraced fintech innovation through our Regulatory Sandbox, allowing payment-focused fintechs to test secure, instant cross-border solutions under close CBN supervision,” he disclosed.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The merger and business combination between Unity Bank Plc and Providus Bank Limited remains firmly on course, a statement from one of the parties disclosed.
According to Unity Bank, there is no iota of truth in reports in certain sections of the media suggesting that the merger process had stalled, as the transaction remains firmly on track.
It was disclosed that the necessary regulatory steps have been completed, but only a few other steps to finalise the transaction, especially the final court sanction.
There had been speculations that both lenders may not meet the new minimum capital requirement of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before the March 31, 2026, deadline.
However, it was noted that the combined capital base of Unity Bank and Providus Bank exceeds N200 billion, which is the minimum requirement to retain a national banking licence under the CBN’s recapitalisation framework.
When completed, the Unity-Providus merger is expected to deliver a stronger, more competitive, and customer-centric financial institution — one with the scale, innovation, and reach to redefine the retail and SME banking landscape in Nigeria.
“The merger with Providus Bank significantly enhances our capital base, operational capacity, and strategic positioning.
“We are confident that the combined institution will be better equipped to support economic growth and deliver innovative financial solutions across Nigeria,” the chief executive of Unity Bank, Mr Ebenezer Kolawole, stated.
Recall that a few months ago, shareholders authorised the merger between the two entities at Court-Ordered Meetings. They also adopted the scheme of merger at their respective Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) in September 2025,
The central bank also backed the merger, with a pivotal financial accommodation to support the transaction. The merger also received a further boost with a “no objection” nod from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The regulatory approvals form part of broader efforts to strengthen the resilience of Nigeria’s banking system, reinforce capital adequacy across the sector, and mitigate potential systemic risks.
The development positions the combined entity among the 21 banks that have satisfied the apex bank’s new capital threshold for national banking operations.
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