A cross-section of customers of recently incorporated Polaris Bank Limited, the bridge bank licenced by the Nigeria’s financial regulatory bodies to take over the asset and all deposit liabilities and other liabilities of erstwhile Skye Bank, have expressed satisfaction of the seamless service offered by the new bank on the first working day of the week.
In an interview across select branches in Lagos and other parts of the country, customers volunteered responses and asked for continued improvement in service in the days and years ahead as the new bank fine-tunes and upgrades her processes and services for optimal performance.
“I got to the branch this morning to make some transfers and also pick up a draft and as you could see, I just concluded my transaction and about to take my leave.
I was warmly welcome by the Cashiers and the Customer service desks and was made comfortable, as always. I feel good and have absolute confidence that it is indeed, a new dawn, Mrs. Halimat Hussein, a customer with Adeola Hopewell branch, Lagos volunteered.
Another customer in Adeola Odeku branch in Lagos, Mr. Abiola Abioye, commented as follows: “In the erstwhile Skye Bank, we noticed some frictions probably towards the end of the change of the name.
It doesn’t use to be like that before. What we would expect is a smooth service in Polaris Bank and I believe everything will just be normal once we get the required services. I just think we have confidence in the Nigerian banking system, so there is no reason to panic.
On how they viewed services offered, Mr. Kola Ayeye, who runs a corporate account with Admiralty branch of Polaris Bank, Lekki, Lagos, spoke glowingly and explained that there has been no cause for alarm.
According to Mr. Ayeye, “So far I have no cause to doubt the services of the bank. More so, I have always been in touch with my account officer even at odd hours of the day, and on holidays too—so I can tell you that the services are okay.
Besides, I presume that with the processes the CBN has put in place which has happened to other banks before, I don’t have any cause to fear except maybe in the course of time I begin to see irregular services that could trigger my alarm bells—but as at this moment, I don’t have any reason to fear.
Findings across major cities also reveal that normal banking activities were seamlessly conducted to the satisfaction of customers across board as fear of a possible run on the new bank by depositors, proved unfounded.
The Daily Times recalls that the Group Managing Director/CEO of Polaris Bank, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, in a statement released by the bank at the weekend, had assured all stakeholders, particularly depositors and customers that their accounts would automatically migrate from ex-Skye Bank to Polaris Bank, saying, “Polaris is a well-capitalised bank, which makes it a very strong bank, in terms of good corporate governance and value and has a very strong backing of the regulators like CBN and NDIC.’’
He also noted that the focus of the new bank is to make sure that the management continues to uphold a very strong good corporate governance and place high premium on strong values.
According to him, “If you look at what happened in the past, it was as a result of lack of corporate good governance and challenges created by insider-related loans of the former bank; but this has been corrected in the last two years we have been in the bank.
The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had in a statement on Friday, September 21, 2018, confirmed the safety of customers’ and depositors’ funds, stating that the sum of N786 billion had been injected into the bank.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.