By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Sunday said it has sort, the services of KPMG, a leading accounting, audit and management consulting firm to help investigate Pan African Bank, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) on issues bordering on corporate governance concerns.

SEC said this in a statement signed by its management and made available to InvestAdvocate by Yakubu Olaleye, its head of media.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), apex regulator of the Nigerian capital markets, wishes to inform the investing public that the Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) corporate governance investigation is progressing,” the statement said.

SEC said it’s taking all necessary steps to speedily conclude the investigation into alleged corporate governance breaches at ETI and has sort the services of KPMG.

Earlier in the month, SEC had confirmed that it was investigating ETI on allegations of breach of corporate governance following recent media reports on the Pan African Lender.

This is coming on the heels of a recent report by Reuters that Nigeria’s SEC is investigating ETI over an alleged misstatement of its 2012 performance.

According to the report, the commission held meetings with Ecobank’s board directors on Aug. 6 to discuss the issue, which was raised by Laurence do Rego, a suspended former head of finance at the bank.

The report affirmed that SEC had sent queries about Ecobank’s 2012 performance to all the directors, in line with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) corporate governance code.

ETI had in March this year reported a profit after tax (PBT) of $287 million in 2012 end, up 39% from the previous year.

The Reuters report further affirmed that the core element (of the allegation) … is on material misstatement of facts on ETI’s performance according to a source at the commission.

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