SEC Directs Skye Bank Shareholders to Claim Dividend Payment

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has directed shareholders of defunct Skye Bank plc to claim their dividend payment.

The apex capital market regulator in its circular said, “Investors that have unclaimed dividends are therefore advised to contact Cardinalstone Registrars to process their dividend payments.”

The Commission has also directed Cardinalstone Registrars and STL Trustees to ensure that all genuine claims of the beneficiary shareholders are addressed forthwith.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), had announced plans to establish a bridge bank, Polaris Bank, to assume the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank Plc.

Skye bank before now had failed to meet minimum thresholds in critical prudential and adequacy ratios, which culminated in the bank’s permanent presence at the CBN Standing Lending Window on a daily basis.

The bank in its 2015 financial year results to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reported N40.7 billion loss after tax and N37.7 billion loss before tax amid plummet in customers deposit. The lender as at 2015 financial year had N104.18 billion shareholders’ funds.

Findings by Financial outlook online revealed that Skye Bank made a total provision of N34.68 billion for impairment charges for the year ended December 31, 2015.

While N27.5 billion impairment charges out of the N34.68 billion were for loans, the remaining N7.14 billion was set aside as impairment charges for other financial assets.

Polaris Bank limited has been issued operating license by the CBN and commences banking business from the September 21, 2018 while the operating license of Syke Bank has been revoked by the governor of the CBN and the NDIC has commenced the processes for its liquidation.