By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)- Umaru Ibrahim, managing director (MD) of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has advised pan African lender Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) to ensure operational independence of its Nigerian subsidiaries.
Ibrahim said this in a statement by Hadi Birchi, head, communication & public affairs of NDIC and made available to InvestAdvocate.
The Nigeria’s deposit insurer’s CEO said the operational independence of the pan-African lenders subsidiaries will enable it benefit fully and consolidate on the gains achieved from the on-going restructuring of the bank.
He gave the advice when Emmanuel Ikazoboh, the chairman of the ETI led other members of the board as well as Jibril Aku, the MD of Ecobank Nigeria on a courtesy visit to the Corporation in Abuja, Nigeria.
Ibrahim also stressed the need for arm’s length relationship between the ETI Group and its Nigerian subsidiary. ‘’For the fact that the Nigerian entity constituted about 45 percent of the total assets of the Ecobank Group meant that its significance in the group could not be overemphasized,’’ he said.
According to him, supervisory authorities would like to see a transparent shared services agreement in which the Group’s operational activities would not continue to be at the expense of the Nigerian entity.
The deposit insurers boss expressed delight with the recent restructuring of the board of the pan African bank; while noting that the recent divestment of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) from Ecobank Nigeria was a success after the takeover by the Qatar National Banking Group (QNB).
‘’This development would go a long way in enhancing the operations of the Ecobank Group,’’ he said.
On his part Ikazoboh assured that ETI would continue to operate efficiently, transparently and comply with all requirements of the regulators.
The ETI chairman assured that with the restructuring of its board, all the corporate governance issues that were of concerns in the past had been addressed.
He affirmed that the board of Ecobank Nigeria was also being restructured to bring about more effective risk management, improved processes and procedures that would translate into more profitable performance for the bank.