CBN appoints interim management for Fortis Microfinance Bank

In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, (NSE), Fortis Microfinance Bank has announced the appointment of an Interim Management Committee by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pilot the affairs of the bank.

Members of the committee include Bunmi Lawson who will serve as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Tiko Okoye as Deputy Managing Director, and Adewale Aderounmu ED, Development Finance. Others include Oluwasaola Ajewole, ED Finance and Administration, Rebecca Sheyin ED Banking Operations and Chika Okey-Nwangwu ED Enterprise and Risk Management. Okoye and Aderounmu were executives on the previous board.

The committee has been mandated to maintain current operations and conclude negotiations regarding the bank’s restructuring. The bank last month disclosed it had embarked on a housecleaning exercise following some accounting irregularities.

Fortis Microfinance Bank also stated that news of its suspension by the Nigerian Stock Exchange had led many depositors to make panic withdrawals, believing this to be a suspension of its operating licence.

Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc was incorporated as a Private Limited Company on the 18th of June 2007 and commenced operations as a unit Microfinance Bank on October 4, 2007.

The Company converted to a Public limited company in October 2011 and its shares were subsequently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on the 20th of June 2012. In August 2015, Fortis obtained a licence from the CBN to operate as a National Microfinance Bank.

Here is a copy of  the statement.