Skye Bank receives N100bn lifeline from CBN

In its efforts of sheltering Skye Bank from going under, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has doled out a total sum of N100 billion in liquidity to the bank.

Ripples Nigeria gathered, that the first tranche of the lodgments was in mid July, while the balance came last week.

CBN announced a change of Skye Bank’s operations, board and management, and appointed Tokunmbo Abiru, as new MD/CEO on July 4.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio was 10.4 percent last year, compared with an industry standard of 16 per cent, Abiru told reporters.

The apex bank on announcing changes in management, stated that it would inject $315 million into the bank after sacking the loan-prone giver management as part of steps to enable it meet minimum capital requirements.

Abiru also said Skye, Nigeria’s eighth-largest bank, made a pre-tax loss last year, due to oil-related bad loans and withdrawals of public sector deposits amid government anti-corruption drive. But he did not give a figure for the loss.

The bank is the only institution to make a loss in 2015, according to CBN report, which compelled the apex bank to intervene to avert depositors’ run on the vault of the embattled bank.

It was learnt that since the beginning of July, Central Bank staff had been working in the bank’s headquarters in Lagos.

Skye Bank’s non-performing loans amounted to 13 per cent of total loans at the end of last year, well above the central bank target of less than 5 percent,

Still, there is the fear in some quarters that before December, some branches of the bank might be closed to reduce administrative costs.

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