Heritage Bank continues to soar

Heritage Bank a, formally Societe Generale Bank Plc  has been given  the mandate to partake in the National Identity Numbers project.
 With the appointment, Heritage Bank will join other financial institutions to undertake the identification, registration and issuance of the identity cards to Nigerians.  
  Speaking on the development, the bank’s Executive Director, Niyi Adeseun, described the NIMC Mandate as a significant call to national duty for financial institution.
  “Identity Management is a critical part of every nation’s progress and we at Heritage Bank will ensure we support the NIMC goals. As with all the other Mandates we have, we are committed to ensuring that we not only deliver maximum value but more importantly, revolutionise the concept of service delivery so that the public will enjoy more ease, zero time wasting and absolute support that our highly technology driven environment and systems are built around”.  
  Adeseun also promised that the bank will not only ensure seamless, hassle-free, instant issuance of NIMC cards to Citizens based on agreed formality, but more importantly synchronise its systems and processes to promote acceptance of all issued NIMC cards via the bank’s terminals and all local and international terminals with the MasterCard logo.  
The Group Head, Coral Banking, George Oko-Oboh, promised that the bank would deploy all its processes to ensure the efficient realization of the goals of the national identity project.
 “Heritage Bank promises to be a reliable and proud partner with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on this laudable national project and will deploy its innovative technology and resources in harmonizing and integrating all database systems in Nigeria to be able to identify every register able Nigerian in this country, register and issue them the identity cards,” he said.

Heritage Bank now appears to be in the lead of bidders interested in acquiring the 100 percent holdings of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in the lender, new information obtained by  reporters since a report recently has shown.

The bank, which is currently intensifying efforts in growing a niche in the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) business segment of the market, is planning to use the branch network the acquisition will offer to reach out to customers.

Sources familiar with the thinking of Heritage people told the press that they see a synergy between both banks and consider the proposed combination, in the words of someone working on the strategy, as “fit and proper”.

Heritage, BusinessDay also learnt, is planning, should it be successful, to retain all current staff of Enterprise Bank, because it would need them to push its agenda of getting a good foothold on the market.

But the development is coming on the heels of new information that the local press  is now in possession of documents regarding the various interests for Enterprise Bank, which shows that Ecobank, the Nigerian arm of the pan-African banking group, is not in the race to acquire Enterprise.

Paedia express gathered that the bank is leveraging on the wide branch network of the defunct Oceanic bank, which it acquired to reach out to its customers last term.

There are 24 investors already in the race to acquire AMCON’s 100 percent holdings in the bank. Among those who have signified interest in Enterprise, apart from the frontrunner, Heritage, are Fidelity, Sterling, and Standard Chartered Bank. Others are Obat Oil, Taurus Holdings, Sahara Energy, and a group led by Emeka Onwuka, who resigned as chairman of the bank recently.

Heritage bank is said to have 400 SMEs customers, out of which it has disbursed about 40 percent of its credit facility to. The bank also has about 300 to 400 customers that have passed through the SME Clinique all over the country, including Abuja, Port Harcourt and all the branches in Lagos and Ibadan.

To further strengthen the partnership, the bank offers financial advisory services to the MSMEs, and is also collaborating with Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), Fate Foundation, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on training the MSME operators.

According to AMCON, upon the receipt and evaluation of Expression of Interests (EoI), a shortlist of buyers who, in its view, are deemed to be fit and suitable from a regulatory perspective (among other things), will be prepared and will proceed to the first phase of the transaction. Shortlisted buyers will be contacted and advised on next step.

“The stage is not an invitation to tender,” says AMCON, adding that interested buyers should make their independent enquiry regarding the transaction.

Based on the 2012 audited accounts, the bank has seven subsidiaries, 150 branches with total assets of N263.5 billion ($1.6 billion) and total equity of N31.9 billion ($195.3 million), AMCON said in the notice.

AMCON, which holds non-performing assets of troubled banks, had in July appointed Citigroup and Vetiva Capital to manage the divestment.