Lucky Fiakpa
6 July 2009
(Page 2 of 2)
He believes the International Accounting Reporting Standard should be able to do something about this so that banks would be more transparent in their reporting of foreign operations. "They should do segmented reporting of the various subsidiaries. They should do separate report so that shareholders will be able to know what contribution they are making to the overall performance of the group," he says.
Offshore Banks
The banking sector reforms did throw up new challenges in the industry. The reform which required every bank to have a minimum of N25 billion as share capital also mean that management of the various banks must go the extra mile to ensure that they generate commensurate returns to justify the huge funds investors committed to their care. This seems to be one of the compelling reasons why a good number of Nigerian banks are now opening offshore subsidiaries in order to improve their bottom lines.
Offshore banking which was some idle past time of the old generation banks before now is now of great attraction to many of the new generation banks. A good number of Nigerian banks are currently offshore doing exploits.
They include the United Bank for Africa, in 22 countries including US, UK and France; GTBank in five countries including the UK, Union Bank in the UK, South Africa and an affiliate in Ghana; First Bank in the UK and South Africa and Skye Bank in Ghana.
Others are Diamond Bank in Republic of Benin; Access in Ghana and the UK; Afribank in Dublin; Oceanic Bank in Sao Tome and Principe; Intercontinental Bank in Ghana and UK, Zenith Bank in Ghana and the UK; Bank PHB in Gambia, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Liberia and some others still waiting on the wings to go.
But in terms of African presence, UBA seems to be more prominent. The bank is in 19 African countries and it is still counting. It has a vision of wanting to be the dominant financial services institution in Africa.
UBA Ghana Limited commenced operations in 2004 and now operates from 16 branches.
UBA Cameroon S.A. represents UBA's first operational base in Central Africa. It commenced operations in December 2007. It currently has seven business offices and it is focused on broadening the banking options available in that country and in the process, raising the bar of excellent service delivery in the Cameroonian financial services sector. It is also a licensed investment services provider in Cameroon.
UBA Uganda Limited represents the bank's pioneer country activities in the East and Southern African sub-region. It hopes to expand the retail and commercial playing field in Uganda by delivering those unique financial products and solutions of UBA Plc as an African brand. It commenced operations in May 2008 with five active branches.
UBA Sierra Leone commenced active operations in July 2008 and is poised to unbundle the full breadth of UBA's innovative banking services and much more into the Sierra Leonean financial services space.
UBA Liberia on the other hand seeks to make financial services accessible to and affordable by every Liberian, irrespective of socio-economic status whilst contributing to the economic development of that country. It began operations in July 2008 and already has five active branches across major business centres in that country.
UBA Cote d'Ivoire effectively commenced business in June 2008 and already has three branches. Located in easily accessible but busy business districts, CDI operations promises to revolutionalise retail and commercial banking in that country
UBA New York is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and is a member of the United States Federal Reserve System. Its balance sheet size is in excess of US$1.3 billion.
Olatokunbo would want more Nigerian enterprises to go out and do similar exploits. He believes it is good for the country and a good testimonial of businesses in the country. "As many as may want to go out there, let us encourage them. We should not criticize them because it is good for the country and its business image," he says.
Perhaps, what he is trying to say is that when an enterprise has been well established, it should be encouraged to set up off-shore offices. But a situation where, so called, established enterprises are closing shops to go and establish in other countries may not tell well of the country's business image.
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