SGBN Set To Resume Operations

The Nigerian banking industry is set to witness the re-entrance of Societe Generale Bank, a company whose license was revoked in 2006 but restored by court judgement in 2009.

SGBN will return as Heritage Bank of Nigeria and commence full operations in the first quarter of 2013 as a regional bank duly licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The correspondence which granted the CBN’s approval for Banking Licence to HBC entitled ’Re: Application for a Commercial Banking Licence with Regional Authorisation’ was dated December 27, 2012 with reference number FPR/LAD/CON/HBC/02/062, and signed by CBN’s director of financial policy and regulations, Chris O. Chukwu.

The major shareholders of the bank are Industrial and General Insurance, as well as the Saraki family.

Josephine Aligwekwe, head of Corporate Communications of the bank, released a statement to the effect that the bank would begin a month long account validation for old customers of the bank.

The statement said, “All customers of the former Societe Generale Bank (Nig.) Ltd. are advised to look out for announcements in the national dailies detailing the processes and procedures for the account validation exercise.”