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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Seven more groups woo banks for mergers
AHEAD of the Friday retreat for banks being organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), some banks are now engaged in frenzied meetings to have a working platform.
Seven different groups are now working seriously to have consolidated outfits or structures on ground before the parley.
The contents of the letters of invitations from some banks to others shown to The Guardian indicated a tone of urgency.
Such sentence as, "we have been discussing with three other banks and would want you to be part of our group's featured prominently in the letters.
One new generation bank, had as many as five invitation sent to it from different groups.
The flurry of activities, The Guardian learnt may not be unconnected with the apex bank's willingness to facilitate the merger talks among banks by creating on enabling environment for them.
The development confirms the CBN Governor Prof. Charles Soludo's remark last week in Lagos that the apex bank was aware of some banks showing interest in others as potential consolidation partners.
Based on this understanding, Soludo informed that the CBN would organise a retreat for the banks so that those that were interested in consolidating could easily do so.
Soludo said that against the backdrop of the accusation of "match making," that the retreat was not designed to force banks into consolidation but to help them smoothen the way to it.
Another aspect that is gingering banks up in the merger talks is the race to be among the first group to consolidate.
Besides settling down in good time to corner a sizeable chunk of the market, the lure of winning the CBN governor's award is another incentive.
According to Soludo, the award would be based on the following:
These incentives may form a major plank of customer chasing tactics of the emerging mega banks.
It would be recalled that the first successful consolidation exercise was recorded two weeks ago with the emergence of the First Consolidated Bank of Nigeria.
The group is made of Gulf Bank, Hallmark Bank, Allstates Trust Bank, Lion Bank and Universal Trust Bank.
The next group that industry watchers are expecting to formally announce its consolidation this week is the Intercontinental Bank Group, made up of Equity Bank, Gateway Bank, Global Bank and Intercontinental Bank.
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