By Stanley Opara

Thursday, 23 Dec 2010

Wema Bank Plc hopes to raise about N15bn from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, to shore up its liquidity and boost operation.

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Mr. Segun Oloketuyi, disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday.

This, he said, would complement the N7.5bn out of N9bn, which it successfully raised from the market this year.

Oloketuyi also explained that the bank‘s choice for a regional banking licence was strategic.

The Wema Bank boss said that there were misconceptions in some quarters about the bank‘s choice for a regional banking licecnce.

He said, ”The intention is strategic. We were losing so much money by spreading our tentacles everywhere.

”What is the use of a national spread that does not bring money? Our choice for a regional banking licence should not be interpreted as a demotion because it is not one. Wema is not a state-owned enterprise.”

Speaking on the current shareholding structure of the bank, he said Odua Investment Company (South-West states) had 10 per cent; a core investor, 40 per cent; and others (with no single shareholder holding more than one per cent in the category), 50 per cent.

He said a regional bank offered physical operations in a defined geographical area, noting that the defined area remained the region for that bank.

He, however, maintained that Wema Bank could offer the same bouquet of banking services as a national or international bank.

He said, ”In Nigeria, a regional bank can operate in a minimum of six and a maximum of 12 contiguous states and the Federal Capital Territory. Those states must be within two geo-political zones.”

Explaining the modalities of the bank‘s regional licence, he said the bank had greater proportion of its infrastructure in the target South-South and South-West market, adding that the region accounted for 98.8 per cent of the bank‘s total loan portfolio and 96.9 per cent of the bank‘s deposit as at October 2010.

Source: Punch