The Management of FBN Holdings PLC, the parent company of First Bank, says the holding company and the bank will cooperate with the new directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
The company made this known on Friday through a corporate disclosure to the Nigerian Exchange Limited. The statement was signed by the company Secretary, Seye Kosoko.
It would be recalled that the regulator sacked the board of the bank and its holding company on Thursday, in a dramatic move that came a day after the bank named a new managing director.
First Bank, Nigeria’s premier bank, has for years been plagued by “bad credit decisions, significant and non-performing insider loans and poor corporate governance practices”, the CBN said Thursday.
Briefing newsmen , the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said First Bank maintained healthy operations up until 2016 financial year when the CBN’s examination revealed that the bank was in grave financial condition with its capital adequacy ratio and non-performing loans ratio substantially breaching acceptable standards.
First Bank has over 31 million customers with deposit base of N4.2 trillion, shareholders’ funds of N618 billion and NIBSS instant payment (NIP) processing capacity of 22 per cent of the industry.
According to Emefiele announced the reinstatement of Sola Adeduntan as the managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, a day after he was removed by the board.
He said the regulator learned about the removal through the media.
In a response Friday, First Bank said it will cooperate with the regulator and ensure that its operations are unhampered.
