CBN, court approved Heritage Bank finally seals merger deal with Enterprise Bank

Heritage Bank Limited has finally sealed its merger deal with Enterprise Bank Limited –a development which will increase the bank’s branch network (Experience Centres) from current 15 to about 200 branches, and thus position it among the top seven banks in Nigeria.

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted final approval for the deal. Also, the Federal High Court has sanctioned the scheme of merger and ordered the merger of both institutions.

“The Management  of the Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN) has approved  the grant  of Final Merger Approval  to Heritage  Banking Company  Limited and  Enterprise Bank Limited and  the license  of Heritage Bank Limited (the successor),” the CBN said in a letter to Heritage Bank.

Heritage Bank had on October 15, 2014, made history with the successful completion of the acquisition of Enterprise Bank, after investing about N56 billion in the deal.

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, on July 27 this year, had ordered an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) of all the parties to the deal. This EGM was held on Wednesday August 12,  this year, where the shareholders of the merging banks sealed the deal.

Ifie Sekibo, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Heritage Bank, said “We are pleased with the final approval of the merger of the two institutions. The stage is now set for us to achieve the vision of a bigger and better bank that offers world class banking services designed to help customers to create, preserve and transfer wealth”.

Sekibo added that “With this acquisition, the new Heritage Bank is better positioned to offer unparalleled banking services which spread across over 200 branches, 177 ATMs, 57 Cash Centres and 2000 POS terminals in 26 states. We shall harness the better of the two worlds combined in terms of our innovative products, bespoke technology and extended branch network manned by a team of tenacious people; as this automatically transforms our bank from a tier-2 player to a strong Tier-1 player that is one bigger, better,.

“As we integrate into a larger bank, we assure our esteemed customers that this strategic stride is ultimately to serve them better. We affirm our commitment to all stakeholders that we will continue to deliver on our promise of creating and preserving wealth across generations through highly personalised service.”

As a brand built on a legacy of innovation, Heritage Bank recently achieved a milestone with the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification award in recognition of its commitment to effective and secured financial system.

The bank has also set a record as the only bank in Nigeria to get this certification award in less than three years of operation. It has, by this certification, joined the league of big players already certified in the industry, including the CBN.

“The legacy of innovation was reinforced when the bank received the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, PCI DSS certification, in addition to the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 award. The PCI DSS is a proprietary information security standard for organisations that handle branded credit cards from the major card schemes including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB.

The certification was in recognition of the bank’s commitment to effective and secured financial system which has put the bank in the league of big players in the industry and confer internationally-recognised standard on its operations.

Iheanyi Nwachukwu