Executive Director, Finance and Operations, Assets
Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mrs Mofoluke Dosunmu said that the
bridged banks have earned the confidence of the investing public.

The bridged banks, namely: Keystone Bank Ltd., Enterprise
Bank Ltd and Mainstreet Bank Ltd., are the defunct BankPHB, Spring Bank and
Afribank, respectively.

Dosunmu made the assessment of the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN)-rescued banks at an interview with newsmen in Lagos.

Evaluating the one year operations of the three banks, the
AMCON Executive Director said that the healthy and unhealthy segregation among
the banks had fizzled out.

“In the first place, we have confidence back in the
industry. Before now, we had a kind of segregation in the market, some banks
were healthy, some were not healthy. Now, you don’t have that anymore.

“Because what we saw was that initially when the bridged
banks started, they did lose some depositors’ funds. But when the customers saw
that anytime they walked into those institutions, they can get their money back,
they started banking with them,” she said.

According to her, the bridged banks have also reduced their
cost of funds as current account balances constitute the bulk of their
deposits, unlike a year ago when term deposits with high interest rates, were their
major deposits.

“The bridged banks have reduced their reliance on term
deposits. In terms of percentages, current account deposits increased from
about 30 per cent to almost 50 per cent,” she said.

Dosunmu said that the new confidence level in the banks had
also resulted in their reduced cases of fraud and improved earnings from other
income sources like fees and commissions.

She said the happiness of the corporation stemmed from the
fact that Nigerians do not just deposit money in the rescued banks’ current
accounts, but also do business with the banks, as noticed from their commission
on transactions.

According to the AMCON director, the bridged banks have not
only recovered, but are on the part of growth.

“A lot of waste has been stopped. Leakages have been closed.
There have been some adjustments in their staffing, whereas people that were
not really contributing to the bottom line of the banks have been successfully
exited.