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Intercontinental Bank recovers N78bn bad debts

December 1, 2009

Intercontinental Bank said on Monday it had recovered N78 billion in bad loans since it was bailed out in August and said it had improved its risk management. Mahmoud Alabi, chief executive officer, appointed by the central bank after the August 14 bailout, said the bank hoped to recover up to N100 billion before year-end. Intercontinental Bank’s total bad debts stood at around N200 billion in mid-August.

“The current debt recovery drive will be aggressively pursued ... We have embarked on a total overhaul of our risk management and control mechanisms to mitigate and avoid the recurrence of past pitfalls,” Alabi told a news conference. The central bank has injected a total of N600 billion into nine banks including Intercontinental since mid-August, after auditors found they had built up bad loans which left them too weakly capitalised to sustain operations.

The regulator has said the banks will be run as going concerns until new investors can be found to recapitalise them. Alabi said Intercontinental was considering a number of options to recapitalise but that it would ensure existing stakeholders were adequately protected. He said the bank had established a committee to scrutinise the books of its debtors, continue to dialogue with them and ensure that all its outstanding debts were recovered.

The Business Day Newspapers, Tuesday December 1, 2009.


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