Nigeria will soon witness another round of merger and acquisition in the banking sector as financial advisers are putting finishing touches to a merger arrangement between First Bank of Nigeria, Heritage Bank and Polaris Bank.
According to Daily Independent, both Polaris and Heritage banks have been looking for a worthy bank to do business with as they have been told by the apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), after a round of stress test in banks last year to shape up or lose their licence.
The source also informed that these three entities are vigorously pursuing the merger and acquisition talks across all available means.
It will be recalled that Polaris Bank, formerly known as Skye Bank, is currently under the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and has been up for sale since it became a bridge bank in 2018.
The CBN had stated in October last year that seven commercial banks in the country failed stress test in adequate funding at the end of 2018.
In a financial stability report published by the bank, it was revealed that in less than 30-day period analysis, seven Nigerian banks were not adequately funded, while in the 31-90 days bucket, nine banks had funding gaps.
Overall, the cumulative position for the industry showed an excess of N4.8 trillion assets over liabilities.
The banking regulator, however, did not mention the names of the seven of the banks but it privately informed the affected banks to look into the possibility of merger and acquisition to prevent a total collapse.
