By John Ikani
A day after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the sale of Polaris Bank, the bank’s new owners, Strategic Capital Investment Limited (SCIL), have appointed a new management board.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday announced the sale of Polaris Bank to SCIL, four years after the government took over the distressed Skye Bank, renamed it before injecting over N1 trillion of public funds to recapitalise the bank.
The new board will be led by the existing chairman M K Ahmad, who will be joined on the board by six non-executive directors and three executive directors, it said in a statement Friday.
AdekunIe Sonola, a former executive director at Union Bank, is the new managing director and chief executive officer of the bank.
The appointments come after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) agreed to inject N1.3 trillion into the lender over the next 25 years after selling the bank’s 100 per cent equity for N50 billion.
In a statement on Thursday, the CBN claimed the sale decision was taken jointly with the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).
AMCON is the government’s bad debt buyer, which took over Skye Bank after the CBN withdrew its licence in 2018 before setting up Polaris as a bridge bank.
The CBN said the new owner has promised to repay N1.3 trillion that was invested into the bank.
