Exactly seven years after its commercial banking licence was revoked on January 16, 2006 for its failure to meet the December 31, 2005 recapitalisation deadline, Societe Generale Bank Plc (SGBN) is finally set to open its branches to customers as a regional player (minimum of N10 billion capital base) under the name Heritage Banking Company Limited.
Ahead of the take-off scheduled for January 29, 2013, it has commenced a four-week revalidation of accountholders of old SGBN, following approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), last year.
The reopening of the old SGBN as Heritage Bank , according to a newspaper report last year, followed the injection of fresh capital by the former owners- the Olusola Saraki family with about 10 per cent, and International Energy Insurance (IEI) Plc, which has Ifie Sekibo, as executive vice chairman as a major shareholder.
A statement by Heritage Bank’s spokesperson, Mrs. Josephine Aligwekwe, at the weekend, quoted the CBN letter conveying approval titled, “Re: Application for a Commercial Banking Licence with Regional Authorisation,” dated December 27, 2012. The letter with reference number FPR/LAD/CON/HBC/02/062 was signed by the CBN Director of Financial Policy and Regulations, Chris O. Chukwu.
Aligwekwe announced that with the CBN approval secured, it is set to commence operations immediately in conformity with the terms of the Licence.
“All customers of the former Societe Generale Bank (Nig) Limited are advised to look out for announcements in the national dailies detailing the processes and procedures for the account validation exercise”, the statement said.
The return of SGBN’s licence followed a favourable June 2008 ruling by Justice Binta Murtala that the CBN’s revocation order was “in bad faith, unconstitutional, null and void.”
SGBN had denied allegations that it made no effort to recapitalize, as merger talks with Unity Bank was at advanced stage at the time its licence was revoked, blaming the CBN for frustrating its effort to conclude the arrangement before the deadline expired.
Unity Bank, according to reports demanded that CBN grant SGBN 80 per cent forbearance of the debts it owed the apex bank, following which the bank applied to the Presidency for granting of waivers to enable it meet up with the re-capitalisation process and that its application was granted.
But SGBN contended that instead of the CBN to process the approval granted by the Presidency and communicate same to it, the apex bank sat on the approval until the deadline for recapitalisation was a few hours away.
The return of SGBN as Heritage Bank leaves Savannah Bank in the lurch, 11 years after its licence was revoked in February 2002 and was returned in 2009, following which the closed branches were returned by the CBN and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).