THE Central Bank of Nigeria has approved the request of Sterling Bank Plc to restructure its operations into a Holding Company structure.
The Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank Plc, Abubakar Suleiman, made the disclosure in a statement.
He noted that the planned restructuring incorporated efficiencies around operations and financing efforts that would boost the bank’s operations.
The Sterling Bank boss said the restructuring would increase portfolio diversification, enhance corporate governance to accelerate its earnings.
The restructuring by the bank would also create better access to capital by leveraging the consolidated financial strength of the group, he said.
Suleiman said the bank’s desire was driven by its plan to spin off its Non-Interest Banking window into an autonomous entity.
He said, “Going into the Holding Company structure, our desire is to entrench our business model premised on social capitalism where we believe that private sector capital and market-based tools will offer the best types of solutions to Nigeria’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.
“The Holding Company gives us the structure to explore our business model further.”
The bank said the Holding Company was designed to operate on three major premises which are Specialisation, Partnership and Digitisation.
“The Conventional Bank will focus on building skills and using technology to provide solutions in the areas that are critical to development in the country,” it added.
The areas are health, education, agriculture, renewable energy and transportation.
