Effective from September 1, 2020, Mr. Innocent Ike, a leading finance and banking professional with over three decades of outstanding career in leading commercial banks in Nigeria, took over the mantle of leadership at Polaris Bank Ltd, as its Chief Executive Officer.
Before his appointment, he has been involved in developing and executing major corporate transformation and turn-around projects in the nation’s financial services industry, leveraging a combination of in-depth industry knowledge and the application of relevant technologies and innovation.
Innocent had been on the Board of SkyeBank for many years. Before then, he was an Executive Director in leading banks, where he recorded outstanding contributions and achievements resulting in the successful turnaround, repositioning and eventual divestment of the bank by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
He has had over ten years voyage in the realm of financial institutions, crossing borders and playing critical roles in the growth and transformation of banks. He rose to become a General Manager with responsibilities in the Corporate & Commercial Banking Divisions in different banks.
Innocent has also been Chairman of SkyeBank Gambia Limited. He currently serves a Director of MainOne Cable Company Limited, Unified Payments Systems Limited, and Pay Attitude Global Limited.
You would recall that in 2018, Polaris Bank experienced a rebirth after its forerunner, Skye Bank was nationalized. Skye Bank’s acquisition of Mainstreet Bank and its related party excesses had ultimately led to the downfall of the once thriving bank.
After then, Polaris Bank was established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on September 21, 2018 to offer commercial banking services to the Nigerian public. The bank commenced services on the same day, having purchased the assets, and assumed certain of the liabilities, of the defunct Skye Bank.
With a foremost vision to be the preferred partner providing superior financial solutions for its customers, Polaris Bank has a footprint of over 350 branches in every corner of the country. Polaris Bank prides itself in delivering exceptional customer experience, leveraging best in class/state of the art Information Communication Technology (ICT).
By focusing on ICT solutions across multiple service delivery channels (mobile banking, ATMs, POS and online platforms) Polaris Bank maintains a pivotal role in the Nigerian banking industry, providing customers with simple, convenient and secured banking services.
Its precursor, Skye Bank, one of the banks that emerged after the N25 billion recapitalization ordered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2005, will always be remembered for its popular jingle-I wish.
However, in terms of administration and smooth-running of the bank, it leaves so much to be desired. In this writeup, we will look at how Skye Bank became Polaris Bank.
The bank consolidation exercise which ended on December 31, 2005, led to the reduction of Nigerian banks from 89 to 26. Skye Bank was one of the banks that was established. The banks that united to form Skye Bank are Prudent Bank, EIB International Bank Plc, Bond Bank, Cooperative Bank, and Reliance Bank.
The bank later acquired Mainstreet Bank, a bridge bank for Afribank in 2014. Stakeholders in the banking sector said that the problem of the bank started due to the challenges it inherited from Mainstreet Bank as well as the refusal of bank executives to abide by CBN rules and regulations.
In September 2017, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced that it had taken over Skye Bank because “The lender failed to meet the regulator’s minimum key liquidity and capital adequacy ratio.
After the CBN revoked the license of Skye Bank, the apex bank disclosed that it has appointed a bridge bank named Polaris Bank to take over Skye’s assets and liabilities.
Emefiele who made the announcement said: “Skye Bank requires urgent recapitalization as it can no longer continue to live on borrowed times with indefinite liquidity support from CBN. We have decided to establish a bridge bank, Polaris Bank, to assume the assets and liabilities of Skye Bank.
“The strategy is for AMCON to capitalise the bridge bank and begin the process of sourcing investors to buy out AMCON. By this decision, the license of Skye Bank is hereby revoked.”
Polaris Bank assumed the assets and certain liabilities of erstwhile Skye effective Friday, September 21, 2018, after which the CBN appointed Mr. Muhammad K. Ahmad, OON, as its board Chairman; while Mr. Innocent C. Ike is the Acting Managing Director/CEO of Polaris Bank Limited. This follows from his appointment by the Board of Directors of Polaris Bank Ltd and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) effective September 1, 2020
The new management is vested with the responsibility of entrenching sound corporate governance and risk management practices while positioning the bank rightly for investors.
The Bank’s Board of Directors is made up of eminent Nigerians of different professional callings and rich wealth of experience garnered in diverse sectors of the economy.
The various backgrounds of these tested and accomplished individuals have helped in articulating a clear strategic direction and focus for the bank which account for the success recorded so far. The Board is ably led by Mr. Muhammad K. Ahmad, a strong advocate of building institutions based on the highest corporate governance and ethical standards Polaris Bank is led by a management team of experienced and accomplished professionals with diverse but complementary competences and skills, under the leadership of Mr. Innocent Ike, the Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer.
Vouching for his competence, the Board of Directors appointed Innocent Ike as the Acting Managing Director/CEO of Polaris Bank Limited with the approval of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the Bank’s shareholder, effective 1 September 2020.
Until his appointment, he was the Executive Director, Technology and Services, and equally overseeing the South-South/South East Directorate of the Bank. Mr. Ike has been a crucial part of the Bank since July 2016 and a major driver of the Bank’s Corporate Transformation journey.
He was appointed Executive Director (Technology & Services) in the defunct SkyeBank Plc in July 2016, following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s intervention in the bank. He was subsequently re-appointed in the same capacity in Polaris Bank Limited in September 2018, upon acquiring the assets and some liabilities of the defunct SkyeBank Plc by Polaris Bank. He currently leads the Bank’s on-going Digital Transformation Project while also overseeing the South-South/South-East Directorate.
The management team provides supervision and leadership over the various directorates of the Bank to support the CEO in achieving the business objectives of the institution.
Just recently, the bank reported a profit after tax of N28.5 billion for the year well ahead of tier 2 banks like Sterling Bank, FCMB and Union Bank Plc
No doubt, Polaris bank is set to undergo further restructuring under the leadership of its new C.E.O Innocent Ike, who took over the bank in September 1, 2020, following a ratification by the board and management of the bank.
The bank’s first set of financial statements since its nationalisation was released recently providing an opportunity to see how the bank is taking on its new lease of life.
According to Nairametrics, this is the bank’s first set of results in over 4 years and provided a glimpse into its first 20 months as a nationalized bank. The bank reported a profit after tax of N28.5 billion for the year well ahead of tier 2 banks like Sterling Bank, FCMB and Union Bank Plc. The defunct Skye Bank was one of the larger tier 2 banks in its heydays, but one would have thought that its reincarnation will at least need some time to recover before being back in the fringes. A cursory dig at the results provides an insight.
It turns out Polaris Bank did what anyone who has just come bigger and better would do. It has played safe. Out of the bank’s total deposit of N857.8 billion, the bank only recorded loans and advances of N188.7 billion.
No surprises that its loan to deposit ratio was just 22% significantly lower than the CBN approved 65%. In fact, out of its total assets of N1.1 trillion, N518 billion was invested into investment securities like treasury bills and bonds. The rest were either held as cash with banks, CBN and AMCON or invested in assets.
The result is a 5 fold increase in profits year on year and a return on equity of 33% besting industry best (no pun intended) GTB’s 31.1% as at end of 2019. Out of the bank’s N131.6 billion in interest income N79.1 billion of it came from investment in CBN securities such as treasury bills and the now restricted Open Market Operations (OMO). Same period last year (2018) the bank earned just N15.1 billion from investment securities.
The bank’s cost to income ratio, a metric for how cost-efficient banks are, also moderated to 68%, again far lower than most of the Tier 2 banks on our radar. The bank also has a high liquidity ratio of 81% compared to the CBN’s 27.5% target. Capital Adequacy ratio of 14% suggest the bank’s capital is just about right for its balance sheet size.
Now, the bank is in a good financial position to face scrutiny with some cover. Strong earning numbers and indicative ratios bode well for the target company in a corporate deal.
Before then the bank will have to wait out the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of the crash in oil prices as a whole also proving in the next coming months that this result was not a fluke. It cannot afford to relapse.
In preparation for a successful career in the financial services industry and leadership roles in the corporate world, Innocent had acquired sound professional training and exposure in some of Nigeria’s most reputable financial institutions. He worked in the erstwhile Fortune international Bank Plc., as well as GT Bank Plc. where he spent most of the early years of his career and occupied several key and sensitive positions in Treasury, Currency Trading, Commercial Banking as well as Banking Operations Units.
He equally trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the international accounting firm of Deloitte, where he handled key audit and consulting assignments.
Innocent is a graduate of Accounting from the University of Lagos, where he emerged as the Best Graduating Student in 1988. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), a Certified IFRS expert, and an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN). He holds an Executive Certificate in Strategy & Innovation from MIT Sloan School of Management, Boston, and has at various times attended global management and leadership programs in world-class institutions, including Harvard Business School, Wharton Business School, and International Management Development Institute (IMD) Switzerland. He is also a Member of the Institute of Directors (IOD).
Olamide Adeniji is a member of the editorial board of TheScript Newspaper
