Polaris Bank Limited is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with cor ...

based in Nigeria. It is licensed by the

Central Bank of Nigeria The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the central bank and apex monetary authority of Nigeria established by the CBN Act of 1958 and commenced operations on 1 July 1959. The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN Act are ...

, the country's banking regulator. In October 2022, the Bank was acquired by Strategic Capital Investment Limited (SCIL).

Overview

Polaris Bank is a large financial services provider in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

and

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, ...

with headquarters in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

., the Bank's total assets were valued in excess of US$3.9 billion (NGN:611.5 billion), with shareholders' equity of approximately US$630 million (NGN:98.4 billion).

History

The Bank traces its origins back to 1989 when Prudent Bank Plc., was incorporated as a limited liability company. In 1990, the Bank was issued a license as

merchant Bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodi ...

. That same year, it re-branded as Prudent Merchant Bank Limited. In 2006, Prudent Merchant Bank Limited merged with four other Banks to form Skye Bank Plc.: * Bond Bank Limited * EIB International Bank Plc. * Reliance Bank Limited * Co-operative Bank Plc. In May 2021, the Bank introduced launched VULTe, its Digital Banking platform ." The Bank also offers Internet banking and mobile banking. In 2014, the bank acquired

Mainstreet Bank Limited Mainstreet Bank Limited (MBL), also referred to as Mainstreet Bank, was a commercial bank in Nigeria. It was acquired by Skye Bank, Skye Bank Plc in 2014. Overview Mainstreet Microfinance Bank is a large financial services provider in Nigeria. M ...

Ownership

On 21 September 2018,

Godwin Emefiele Godwin Emefiele is a Nigerian banker who has been serving as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria since 4 June 2014. Born on 4 August 1961 in Lagos State, Nigeria, Emefiele is originally from Ika South, Agbor region of Delta State. Educat ...

, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria announced in Lagos that the apex bank had revoked the operating licence of Skye Bank. He also stated that the assets and liabilities of the bank would be taken over by a new entity, Polaris Bank due to the inability of the Skye Bank's shareholders to adequately recapitalise the bank after the 2016 intervention. In August 2022, management of Polaris Bank denied reports that the bank was being sold to Auwal Lawan Abdullah, a relative of

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as Ch ...

. On 20 October 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) announced the sale of 100 per cent of the equity in Polaris Bank to Strategic Capital Investment Limited (SCIL). SCIL paid an upfront consideration of N50billion (approximately US$115 million to acquire 100 per cent of the equity of Polaris Bank. They also agreed to pay N1.305 trillion (approx. US$3 billion) in bonds that CBN and AMCON had injected into Polaris. As a result of this transaction, CBN and AMCON recovered all the capital that had been injected into Polaris since 2018.

Branch network

Polaris Bank Limited maintains an interlinked branch network of ove
260 branches
in all parts of Nigeria. The bank maintains her headquarters at 3 Akin Adesola Street,

Victoria Island, Lagos Victoria Island (VI) is an affluent area that encompasses a former island of the same name neighbouring Lagos Island, Ikoyi and the Lekki Peninsula by the Lagos Lagoon. It is the main business and financial centre of Lagos State, Nigeria. Vi ...

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

Governance

Effective 2016, the

Chairman of the Board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

is M. K. Ahmad, who chairs the sixteen (16) member

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

. The

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and Group Managing Director was Innocent Ike, appointed in September 2020. Following the acquisition by SCIL, the current Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director is Adekunle Sonola.

References

External links

* {{Portal, Banks Banks of Nigeria Companies based in Lagos Companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Nigerian brands 2006 establishments in Nigeria Victoria Island, Lagos