Intercontinental Bank raises capital base to N20b, Platinum goes to 10b
FAR-REACHING measures have been taken by Intercontinental Bank Plc to meet the N25 billion new minimum capital base. Also, Platinum Bank is doing the same.
The board of directors of Intercontinental Bank, which met last week, among others, agreed to pull out its equities in other banks and also collapse the group structure into a single entity.
The group is made up of Intercontinental Bank Plc and its subsidiaries and associated institutions, which include Equity Bank (Nigeria) Limited, Gateway Bank Plc and Global Bank Plc.
With the decision, the bank's consolidated group shareholders' funds has risen to N20 billion in the first half of 2004, making it the third largest in the Nigerian banking industry.
At N20 billion, the bank says it is sure of meeting the December 31, 2005 deadline.
One of the options, which appears already guaranteed, is the capitalisation of profit as the consolidated profit of members of the group was over N6.4 billion in 2003 while 2004 profit is expected to hit N10 billion.
Also, Platinum Bank Limited has increased its share capital to N10 billion to meet the CBN directive on the N25 billion new capital base.
According to a statement, Platinum also took the decision to accelerate its growth plan and emerge as a leading full service bank in the country.
Consequently, following the approval of the Board of Directors, the bank is raising additional capital by rights issue to move the shareholders funds from N3.2 billion to over N10 billion, which will be fully paid up by November this year.
Also, there are indications that the bank may consider merger options with a bank that shares its values, and may have started negotiations with credible foreign investors, with whom it has a subsisting three-year agreement in principle to invest in the bank with the aim of meeting the N25 billion minimum capital base.
Platinum Bank with a high growth potential is ranked among the leading players on the weekly Dutch Auction System (DAS) for Foreign Exchange bidding, an indication of the quality of its customer base and volume of business being facilitated by the bank.
There are indications that the bank may have grown its profit and asset base by about 300 per cent and 75 per cent respectively between 2003 and 2004 largely due to its strong acceptability by the banking public.
