Banking
Polaris Bank Battles for Survival Amid Growing Concerns
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
All seems not to be too well with Polaris Bank, the bridge bank set up to take over the assets and liabilities of now defunct Skye Bank Plc.
A new report by National Daily said the lender is fighting a serious battle for survival following customers panic over the sudden demise of Skye Bank.
Business Post reports that despite efforts being made by the management of Polaris Bank to assure its customers that nothing will happen to their money in its care, nobody wants to take the risk of leaving his hard-earned money with the financial institution.
This is because in the past, some people have had to kiss their money goodbye as a result of similar situation and those who were part of the collapsed banks walking on the streets as freemen.
In order not to be caught unawares, some customers of the defunct Skye Bank are reportedly taking their money out of Polaris Bank to safer banks, giving them the opportunity to have sound sleep and have nothing to worry about again for fear of the unknown.
It will be recalled that in a move that took bank customers and even shareholders and other financial industry stakeholders by surprise, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), last month announced the winding up of business activities of the much harried and cash strapped, Skye Bank Plc.
The CBN admitted that as a result of the shaky outlook of the defunct Skye Bank, it had no option than to intervene because results of forensic audit of the bank’s books revealed that it required urgent recapitalisation as it could no longer continue to survive on life support (meaning indefinite liquidity support).
Whereas no one doubts the ability of the regulator to stabilise Polaris and save depositors of the new financial institution, shareholders are still confused as to the implications of what has happened.
It has been argued that the new bank will lose some customers (depositors) who are edgy about their deposits and have lost some trust in the old bank and by extension its successor. They will migrate to other banks.
The challenge of huge non-performing loans hanging over Polaris, industry observers believe cannot be wished away despite the huge amount the CBN has injected in the bank.
Details show that the CBN has injected over N1 trillion into the bank; the over N300 billion when it sacked and replaced its management and the recent intervention of N786 billion.
Meanwhile, industry analysts do not seem comfortable with the new arrangement given the developments of 2009 when the CBN under Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the current Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II.
Lagos based financial analyst and a senior lecturer at the prestigious Lagos Business School (LBS), Dr Adi Bongo, expressed discomfort with the emergence of Polaris Bank, adding that Skye Bank should never have been allowed to acquire Mainstreet Bank which was much bigger than her at that time.
However, Dr Afolabi Olowokere of Financial Derivatives Company limited held a contrary view, arguing that the liquidation option was capable of wrecking the financial system and cause confidence crisis.
‘’Depositors will lose their monies, there will huge job losses and the financial system can crash if the CBN fails to come in the way it did’’, he said.
Recall the bank erstwhile chairman of the collapsed bank, Mr Tunde Ayeni and another director, Mr Festus Fadeyi, had borrowed huge loans from the bank to run other business concerns, which have not been fully repaid.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The six edition of the Hackaholics of Wema Bank Plc has produced 20 top finalists shared equally between two streams, Ideathon and Hackathon.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists include PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
They emerged after a two-day pre-pitch held on December 16 and 17, 2025, for the grand finale slated for Friday, December 19, 2025.
They grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 will convene the top players in Africa’s tech and innovation ecosystem, creating an avenue for these finalists to not only put their creativity to the ultimate test but also give their solutions visibility to potential investors for additional funding opportunities beyond the prizes to be won.
The prizes to be won for the Ideathon include N25 million for the winner, N20 million for the first runner-up, N15 million for the second runner-up and N5 million each for two women-led teams.
In the Hackathon category, the first to fourth-place winners will receive N20 million, N15 million, N10 million and N5 million, respectively.
The pre-pitch saw the top 43 contenders battle in a game of innovation and problem solving, presenting compelling pitches for a chance to make it to top 10 in their respective streams.
After a rigorous stretch of pitches and presentations, the top 20 emerged, securing their spot in the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0.
“Hackaholics started off as a hackathon and morphed into an ideation. For Hackaholics 6.0, the sixth edition, we decided to give both the builders of new solutions and the refiners of existing ones, an opportunity to make meaningful impact.
“For us at Wema Bank, we understand that innovation isn’t just building from scratch. Sometimes, it’s looking at what exists and developing new ways to optimise that and create more efficiency. This is the idea behind our two-stream Ideathon-Hackathon structure.
“Every year, Hackaholics shows us just how eager and motivated Nigerian youth are when it comes to exploring creativity and innovation, and we are honoured to be the institution that provides them with the platform and resources to put this drive to good use.
“We toured seven cities, indulged 1,460 participants and discovered hundreds of remarkable ideas; some of which needed some refining and some of which deserved to move to the next stage.
“For those who needed to go back to the drawing board, we provided useful guidance and for the top contenders, we were able to shortlist to the top 43, who proceeded to the pre-pitch. To every participant, Wema Bank is proud of you. This is just the beginning,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will enforce penalties against designated banks that delay the remittance of customs revenue, in a move aimed at strengthening transparency and safeguarding government earnings.
This was disclosed in a statement on the NCS official account on X, formerly known as Twitter and signed by its spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Maiwada, who said the delays undermine the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has noted instances of delayed remittance of customs revenue by some designated banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’odogwu platform,” the statement read.
“Such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“In line with the provisions of the Service Level Agreement executed between the Nigeria Customs Service and designated banks, the Service hereby notifies stakeholders of the commencement of enforcement actions against banks found to be in default of agreed remittance timelines.”
Mr Maiwada disclosed that any bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timeline will be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the period of the delay.
He added that affected banks would be formally notified of the delayed amounts, the applicable penalty, and the deadline for settlement.
“Accordingly, any designated bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed period shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the duration of the delay.
“Affected banks will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty, and the timeline for settlement,” the statement read.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Mr Ini Ebong, has offloaded some shares of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent firm of the banking institution.
A regulatory notice from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited confirmed the development on Thursday.
It was disclosed that the transaction occurred on Friday, December 12, 2025, on the floor of the stock exchange.
The sale involved about 11.8 million shares, precisely 11,783,333 units traded at N31.14 per share, amounting to about N366.9 million.
Mr Ebong, who studied Architecture from University of Ife and obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees, became the DMD of First Bank in June 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking since January 2022.
He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.
Before joining First Bank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Business Head.
He has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income and securities.
He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices.
At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks and market participants.
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