Operators in the nation�s capital market have started to besiege the Central Bank of Nigeria to take part in the consolidation in the banking industry following the release of the guidelines and incentives last week.
The CBN Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, last Thursday rolled out the guidelines and incentives for banks planning mergers in order to meet the new N25 billion minimum capitalisation.
Capital market operators such as stockbrokers, solicitors, financial advisers reporting accountants and auditors are some of the parities that would play active roles in likely mergers and acquisitions.
Soludo said that the CBN would provide and pay for a team of experts to render technical assistance to banks from August 15, 2004 and apparently moving to take advantage of the situation, some leading stockbrokers, financial advisers and solicitors last Friday thronged the Lagos office of the CBN to register their interest.
Our correspondent sighted some chief executives of some these companies at the CBN where sources confirmed that they had gone to be part of the team the apex bank was putting together to render technical assistance to the banks.
Meanwhile, workers of some banks likely to be affected by consolidation programme have commended the apex bank�s directive that exiting staff should be compensated.
Soludo last Thursday disclosed that staff exiting as a result of the consolidation should be compensated by the consolidated entity in line with industry standards, but not below the terms of their sustaining employment.
Some staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that that would be a big relief for most of them whose fate might be in the balance.
�At least one would be able to survive on the money that would be paid before another job is secured,� a staff of one of the banks on Broad Street, Lagos, said.
Another banker, however, urged the CBN to ensure that such exiting benefits are paid at the point of leaving. �The compensation money should be paid at the point of leaving the bank sop that it will become another tale of pensioners that usually wait for their pensions,� he said.
Apart from tax incentives that banks are expected to enjoy, the CBN said it would also negotiate the possible write-down of its exposure to distressed banks that would be acquired as a way of improving their balance sheets as well as the treatment of the distressed banks.
The negotiation, Soludo said would also address the interest of the owners of distressed banks in the new arrangement.
Soludo enjoined banks to be open in their negotiations by placing the actual value of their assets on the table assuring that �sanctions shall not be imposed for any previous misreporting detected in the course of consolidation.�
