By Agency Reporter

Tuesday, 9 Nov 2010

Skye Bank Plc will announce in January whether it will keep or sell its non- banking units, the bank‘s spokesman, Mr. Kayode Akinyemi, has said.

Akinyemi, told Reuters that ”Discussions are going on at the executive and board levels, and by January we will be in a position to advise on what our operations will be.”

Skye Bank has units in areas including insurance, mortgage, stockbrokerage, and investment banking, Akinyemi said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria in September asked the nation‘s lenders to sell their non-banking units or adopt a holding company model. All financial institutions regarded as universal banks have to prepare plans to comply with the policy not later than January 2, 2011.

The rules form part of changes to the banking industry, which amassed bad debts of about $10bn that threatened to collapse some of the operators. The CBN fired the chief executive officers of eight of the country‘s 24 lenders last year and bailed the industry out with N620bn.

Source: Punch