Skye Bank to sell offshore subsidiaries, may revert to national bank

Skye Bank Plc plans to dispose off majority stakes in its subsidiaries in Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone to a foreign firm, Conserve Capital.

This would pave way for the bank to revert to a national bank status and ease pressure on its capital.

According to Bloomberg reports, the bank wants to drop its international banking licences so it would no longer require capital adequacy ratio, CAR, of 15 percent as stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and become a national bank that only needs a CAR ratio of 10 percent.

Greenwich Trust Ltd has been hired as financial adviser on the deals and bidders are expected to submit expressions of interest by November 18.

-Vanguard