Debtors list: Bank customers rush to renegotiate loans

PUNCH.

Delinquent debtors of Deposit Money Banks, whose loans have become non-performing, are rushing to the banks to renegotiate their outstanding facilities four days to the expiration of the July 31 repayment deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The CBN had on April 22 directed the banks and discount houses to commence the publication of the names of their delinquent debtors from August 1.

It ordered the banks to publish the list of the delinquent debtors, whose loans remained non-performing after the deadline, in at least three national newspapers on quarterly basis.

In line with the directive, banks gave the chronic debtors a three-month ‘grace period’, which will expire on July 31.

But top officials of banks told our correspondents on Monday that majority of the delinquent debtors were already re-negotiating their loan terms with the respective management of the DMBs, with large a number of the customers turning out in the last few days.

A top executive of a tier-1 bank, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told one of our correspondents on Monday, “I can confirm to you that majority of the delinquent debtors are now rushing to renegotiate their loans with us; some had come earlier to do it, but we are having a large turnout in recent weeks and days.

“We are still looking at the numbers but there is no going back on the CBN directive. We will definitely publish the names of those who fail to meet with the bank over their indebtedness sometime in August, but not necessarily August 1 in line with the directive.”

Officials of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc told our correspondents that there was no going back on the central bank’s directive.

However, they said some of the delinquent debtors were contesting the figures regarding their total indebtedness to the banks.

This, they noted, had led to series of litigation between the banks and a sizeable number of their delinquent debtors.

A spokesperson for First Bank, Mr. Babatunde Lasaki, said “Some of these customers have initiated discussions with their relationship managers and the discussions are ongoing. However, some of the debtors are contesting the figures and some of them have resulted to litigation over the matter.

“We have written to the CBN to seek clarification on whether these set of customers should be included in the list (of debtors for publication), but we have yet to get a response.”

The Skye Bank spokesperson, Mr. Rasheed Bolarinwa, said the lender could not disregard the CBN’s directive, explaining that discussions were at an advanced stage between the bank and the debtor customers.

An e-mail enquiry requesting further information on the status of the delinquent debtors, especially the number of those that have renegotiated their facilities and the outstanding number was not replied to as of the time of filing this report.

The spokespersons for UBA, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Diamond Bank and GTBank promised to provide updates on the discussion with the delinquent debtors, but had yet to do so as of press time.

Meanwhile, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, the government agency that bought over the NPLs in the banks after the 2009 banking sector crisis, said on Monday that it would publish the names of the delinquent debtors in line with a CBN directive.

In a public notice, the agency advised its debtors to pay up or produce feasible restructuring plans within the time stipulated by the central bank.