By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The board of pan-African bank, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) will Monday (today) February 03, 2014 in Lome Togo hold a crucial meeting in respect of corporate governance issues as directed by Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

InvestAdvocate gathered that the meeting will focus on the aftermath of the corporate governance audit report of Ernst & Young (E&Y).

Also, it was gathered that there are mounting pressures to dissolve the current board and constitute a new one to move the pan-African lender in a new direction in terms of corporate governance.

Last week, InvestAdvocated gathered that the first meeting of the bank’s board held in Lome ended in stalemate as nothing concrete was reached.

This is coming on the heels of Nigeria’s SEC directive earlier January 2014 that ETI should appoint a substantive board chairman who will lead the effort to attain an improved governance climate in the bank.

SEC had in August 2013 commenced an investigation into the alleged breaches and corporate governance practices within ETI in pursuant to its core mandate of fostering the integrity of the Nigerian capital markets and ensuring adequate protection of the investing public. The Commission also engaged KPMG to supplement its efforts and make recommendations on the way forward.

On December 16, 2013, SEC presented the result of the audit exercise to the board of ETI in order to elicit feedback from them.

SEC also advised ETI to hold an Extra- Ordinary General (EGM) Meeting of shareholders to deliberate and pass resolutions on the critical findings and recommendations of the corporate governance audit.

The Commission said the EGM is pertinent in order to address alleged issues of breaches of corporate governance and allegations against the Board of Directors and certain principal officers of the Pan-African Bank.