The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), on Wednesday, announced the delisting of the entire issued shares of Skye Bank Plc and Fortis Microfinance Bank, pursuant to Clause 15 of the General Undertaking, Appendix III of its Rule Book.
The action is coming almost three months after the approval of the NSE’s National Council at its meeting of Thursday, 30 May 2019 in line with The Exchange’s regulatory delisting process as a result of the revocation of their operating licenses by their primary regulator.
According to a statement by Lillian Dako, on behalf of the Head, Listings Regulation Department of the exchange, the decision followed the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The NSE’s move is coming almost one year after the CBN announced the revocation of the operating licence of Skye Bank in September 2018, after which it was bridged and recapitalized by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), which subsequently renamed it Polaris Bank Limited.
Commenting on the regulatory action on Skye Bank, Ibrahim Umar, chief executive of NDIC said Polaris Bank was recapitalized “by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) through the injection of N786bn to return the bank to soundness and profitability to enable its subsequent sale to credible and financially sound third-party acquirers.”
Days after the revocation of Skye Bank’s licence, the CBN hammered a total of 182 mortgage banks, finance houses and microfinance banks across the country, many of which had were either insolvent and had closed shop, terminally distressed, or in voluntary liquidation.
A breakdown of the number showed that a total of 154 MFBs, including Fortis MFB, were affected by the revocation.