Why Skye Bank died – NDIC

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has revealed why Skye Bank Plc died.

NDIC said its risk assessment and forensic investigation reports revealed that the erstwhile management of the defunct bank contributed to its failure by engaging in insider abuse, poor corporate governance and banking malpractices.

A statement by Mr. Mohammed Kudu Ibrahim, Head, NDIC Communication and Public Affairs, yesterday, said the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the corporation, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, made the disclosure at the opening ceremony of the corporation’s 2018 Sensitization seminar for Federal High Court Judges in Abuja.

The statement also quoted the MD to have said that “the reports identified various malpractices such as fraudulent, false accounting, manipulation of accounting records to present false profits and ratios, unlawful loan and credit facilities, non-disclosure of directors’ interests and lending beyond the single obligor limit.”

The statement also added that the NDIC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were monitoring the investigations of law enforcement agencies instituted against the directors and management of the failed Skye Bank Plc to determine their culpability in the failure of the bank.

The NDIC boss noted that the corporation’s implementation of the bridge bank resolution option that established Polaris Bank Ltd that assumed the assets and liabilities of the defunct Skye Bank Plc, resulted in depositors’ unhindered access to their funds, the continuity of the operations of about 300 branches and the preservation of over 6,000 jobs.

Speaking further, the MD/CE also informed participants that the corporation has commenced the payment of insured deposits to depositors of the 153 Microfinance and six Primary Mortgage Banks whose licenses were recently revoked by the CBN.