Business News — FBN Holdings Plc today flagged off a world of opportunities in consolidated financial services following the listing of its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and its commitment to continue in the heritage of excellence associated with the FirstBank brand.
Speaking at the event, Managing Director/CEO, FBN Holdings, Mr. Bello Maccido said the holding company structure promises enhanced service delivery, performance and profitability for the group's customers, shareholders and investors. "We have created an operating model that will drive service excellence and profitably grow the group's presence in commercial banking and non-banking financial services in order to achieve the aspiration to be the dominant financial services group in Sub-Saharan Africa within the next five years," he said.
FBN Holdings comprises FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, FBN Capital Limited, FBN Life Assurance Limited, FBN Insurance Brokers Limited and FBN Microfinance Bank.
The group emerged after First Bank of Nigeria Plc was delisted last week from the NSE in compliance with the Central Bank of Nigeria regulation requiring the separation of commercial banking business from other financial services businesses. An Extraordinary General Meeting of FirstBank held on 24 September 2012 ratified the process after relevant approvals were obtained from the regulatory authorities.
Maccido said while customers of the group's banking and non-banking subsidiaries would continue to experience the friendly and innovative service in keeping with FirstBank's culture, Shareholders of the holding company would benefit from the entire businesses in the Group.
"The holding company structure is designed to enhance the group's competitiveness, streamline and coordinate various operations across non-bank financial services, and further exploit opportunities for synergies between subsidiaries. What we now have is a structure that has the potential to do much more for our customers and protect and preserve shareholders' value through retention of good investments," he added.
According to him, FBN Holdings would operate a corporate centre with responsibility for setting strategic direction and providing group-wide oversight through the constitution of a governing board and committees at the group level to optimally align corporate governance and management roles.
The HoldCo structure does not change the rights and ownership of existing shareholders of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. Their shareholding will be migrated to FBN Holdings Plc in exchange for receiving ordinary shares in FBN Holdings equal to the number of shares they held in FirstBank immediately before the effectiveness of the restructuring.
