Heritage Bank MD, Akinola George-Taylor
A seeming boardroom crisis that may rock troubled
Heritage Bank to its foundation is currently brewing in the bank,
exclusive reports.
Competent sources within the bank told Revealed that the
imbroglio involves the current managing director and chief executive of
the bank, Mr. Akinola George-Taylor and some board members.
Less than one year after assuming office as bank’s head
honcho, the new bank chief may have plunged the distressed bank into
further boardroom crisis, compounding the lender’s many challenges.
George-Taylor, who 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.
But while the bank’s shareholders may have been
expecting that the new helmsman would change its fortunes and drive
growth, sources say he has instead, allegedly, instigated internal
crisis, in an attempt to rid the bank of those suspected to be loyalists
of some board members, and employ his own people. The move, sources
disclosed were unconnected with the new bank chief’s plan to oust some
board members who are said to be at loggerheads with him, from the bank.
The bank’s chief is said to be enjoying the support of a
top shareholder of the bank whom sources say is allegedly determined to
solely take over the bank and get rid of the owners.
Top sources in the bank, which has been struggling to
stay afloat in recent months, informed that not less than 70 senior
staff members have been sacked, while a number of others were asked to
resign. Besides those who were forced to leave, sources say that some
resigned voluntarily over poor working conditions, while the once active
branches of the bank are as quiet as graveyards. It was further
gathered that the affected staff were disengaged without paying them
their accrued entitlements and allowances.
This development comes despite an order by the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) barring deposit money banks from mass sack of
their workers.
“I can tell you that there is war at Heritage Bank as we
speak. Over 70 persons have been asked to go, while some were asked to
resign. Mind you, those who were asked to go have not been paid any
compensation,” said a management staff who preferred anonymity.
“The mission of the new managing director is to ease out
those who are loyal to some board members whom the managing director is
not in tune with, so he could employ his own people,” one of the
sources said.
The latest crisis comes amid persisting financial distress in the bank.
It was gathered that the bank has been struggling to
pay workers’ salaries for some time now, even as depositors have not
been able to access their funds.
The apex bank, it would be recalled, had come under
pressure to withdraw the bank’s license over its alleged bankruptcy
issues, and inability to meet obligations to depositors.
Many had wondered why the Nigeria’s banking regulator
had not wielded its hammer on the bank despite its troubled and
distressed state.
Further investigations further revealed that apart from
the issues of “Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and the Liquidity Ratio
(LR), the commercial bank is also grappling with many other crises that
tend to threaten its survival.
One of them is its poor services which are staring its
customers in the face. Already, most of its branches are awash with
complaints of unsatisfied customers whose singsong is their plans to
close their accounts due to long hours they experience to get services
from Heritage Bank staff.
In our fact-finding mission, when contacted Ozenna
Utulu, the head of Corporate Communications of Heritage Bank for the
bank’s angle.
In her response, Utulu said: “These things are not true,
there is no boardroom crisis at the bank. Of course, organizations
everywhere restructure from time to time.”
(C) The Witness
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