Yes, our banks are riding the rough patch right now as the rosy past - contrived and condoned - is, shall we say, past. They are trying hard to whether the self-induced storm plus stemming the tempests of the global economic crises/credit crunch. Investors’ confidence is low, customers’ enthusiasm is dampened, crime-busters are hovering, workers are being laid-off, corporate image is tumbling and the erstwhile swagger of bankers turning stagger! Tough.
Then, the regulators: CBN, NDIC and SEC are breathing down - no more voodoo banking and paper profits, no more life-chairmen or CEOs, no more bad credit and insider trading, no more capital market shenanigans! And the professions: CIBN,CIIN and NSE are cleaning up banking, insurance and stock broking practice as self-regulatory/certification bodies.
Oh, the media: what can we say? They are rightly beaming the biting and piercing searchlight on banks and banking. Constantly seeking scoops, and exultant from its recent salacious coverage of the monumental rot in the industry, they will follow any lead and sensationalize any break!
Being together in the Bankers Committee, the CIBN and the industry one would expect the banks to bond and brace for the turbulence at hand and the triumphs ahead. Instead, we are seeing untoward practices, impunity and criminal competitor-demarketing! It didn’t just start, it’s been a part of their weird survival tactics - pulling others down (PHD syndrome). Why?
The latest is some dirty rumours about three banks they claim are to be liquidated by the authorities! They advise depositors to withdraw their money before it is too late!! Why?
The CBN has rightly intervened by issuing a prompt rebuttal. But it must do more: fish out the culprits and prosecute them!
No comments:
Post a Comment