Nigeria’s central bank on Thursday terminated the Board of Directors of First Bank of Nigeria and appointed new Directors, the regulator said in a briefing, referring to the past board’s “major developments” without approval from regulatory authorities.
First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) didn’t react to calls for input.
The bank had been in “grave financial condition” when the regulator became associated with its administration “to keep up financial soundness” in 2016, giving it authority over FBN’s tasks, the central bank said.
The termination of the board on Thursday was done “to save soundness of the bank, to protect minority investors and depositors,” said the regulator
“The moves being made are intended to reinforce the bank and position it as a financial industry giant,” it said.
Nigeria’s central bank has powers to remove bank directors and it utilized them during the 2008/2009 global financial emergency when it fired nine CEOs of banks that were under-capitalized.
The regulator in 2016 terminated top heads of Skye Bank over capital ampleness issues, having in 2015 given three business banks time to recapitalize after they neglected to hit a base capital sufficiency ratio of 10%.
