Heritage Bank In Trouble As Stakeholders Panic Over Akinola George Alleged Mismanagement Of Ailing Bank

Customers And Stakeholders Panic Over Akinola George

CityNews Nigeria reports that crises are brewing in Heritage Bank. Indeed, the crises, according to insiders are manifesting and affecting the expected growth pattern of the bank.
According to a credible source, the managing director, Mr. Akinola George-Taylor , is said to be at the centre of the crises.

Speaking with CityNews Tuesday afternoon, a management staff said “Not quite long, over 400 marketers were sacked. Other top managements have also been sacked.”
Asked about the reason for the sack, the top management staff who is not authorized to officially speak for the bank said “It is the new MD. We don’t know what he has against those who Ifie Sekibo employed. He has been sacking both junior and management staff. It is like he wants to bring in his people. He does not have the growth interest of the bank at heart,” he volunteered.
From another source, Heritage Bank is said to be struggling to meet up with workers’ salary payment.
The bank depositors are said not to be able to access their funds.
The Central Bank of Nigeria is said to be concluding plans to sack the Akinola George-Taylor led management team over challenges in its capital adequacy ratio.

Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) is the ratio of a bank’s capital in relation to its risk weighted assets and current liabilities. Simply put, Capital adequacy ratio is an indicator of how well a bank can meet its obligations. It is decided by central banks and bank regulators to prevent commercial banks from taking excess leverage and becoming insolvent in the process.

Apart from Adequacy and Liquidity Ratio, Heritage Bank is also said to be grappling with poor service delivery.
“Most of its branches are awash with complaints of unsatisfactory customers service. Many customers are threatening to close their accounts with the bank. The poor working conditions in Heritage Bank is a sad tale,” OpenLife was told.

In response, Ozenna Utulu, head of Corporate Communications of Heritage Bank was quoted to have said “These things are not true, there is no boardroom crisis at the bank. Of course, organizations everywhere restructure from time to time.”

Heritage Bank Plc, is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the country’s banking regulator with a national operating license, that offers retail banking, corporate banking, online/internet banking, investment banking and asset management services.
The bank has its roots to the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, founded by the late Dr. Olusola Saraki in the late 1970s.

In January 2006, the Central Bank closed down Societe Generale on account of failure to meet new minimum capital requirements of US$155 million (NGN:25 billion) for a National Bank.

In 2012, the core investor, IEI Plc, through IEI Investments Limited, acquired the Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria license from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Having fulfilled all required criteria, the bank returned 100% of existing Societe Generale account holders’ money to their owners.

In October 2014, Heritage Banking Company Ltd successfully met the requirements of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the Central Bank of Nigeria toward owning 100% shares in Enterprise Bank Ltd.
On 27 January 2015, AMCON officially transferred ownership of Enterprise Bank Ltd to Heritage Bank Plc.

In all of this however, Akinola George-Taylor joined Heritage Bank as acting managing director/chief executive officer on September 12, 2022, succeeded Ifie Sekibo, the bank’s founder and pioneer managing director who served out his 10-year tenure in September 2022.

George-Taylor was, however, confirmed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the substantive managing director of the lender in April 2023.