AMCON to sell Polaris Bank ‘in less than two years’

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) says it plans to sell Polaris Bank within two years.

Ahmed Kuru, chief executive officer, AMCON, said this in an interview with Bloomberg in Lagos.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had revoked the operating licence of Skye Bank in September for failing to meet capital and liquidity requirements.

Polaris Bank was subsequently approved as a bridge bank to take on the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank.

He said the agency has met with the management of Polaris Bank and will sell the financial institution in less than two years.

Kuru added that the authorities intervened in the Skye Bank issue because of “a lot of systemic issues”, including saving more than 5,000 jobs and almost N1 trillion in deposits.

He said AMCON will advertise for financial advisers for the sale of Polaris Bank after an investigation into the cause of its capital and liquidity challenges.

“The divestment must be quick. It’s a very big bank and if you allow anything to happen to it, it will affect some other financial institutions,” Kuru said.

“Because we have put a lot of money there, where we find out that something wrong has been done, I can assure you that people will be held responsible.”

Kuru said AMCON, established in 2010 to buy bad debts, had set a 2023 deadline to dissolve its operations, even as it is still struggling to recover non-performing loans.