LAGOS, Nigeria - Thursday, July 18th 2013 [ME NewsWire]
(BUSINESS WIRE) Kolapo Lawson, Chairman of Ecobank, commented: "I was disappointed to read the speculation about Ecobank in the media yesterday morning, July 17th 2013 relating to boardroom matters at Ecobank Transnational (ETI) and wish to state as follows:
"With regard to the letter from the CBN, documents have been provided to the CBN that show clearly that the information in their hands at the time the letter was written was incomplete.
"The loan to Agbara Estates, which is not yet due to be paid, was contracted between two management teams acting at arm’s length in the ordinary course of business, and was completed well before I became Chairman of the ETI Group. Furthermore, it is fully secured by a real estate project which has since increased in value and the overall value of the project is significantly higher than the loan. The Board has every assurance that the loan will be paid off before its due date.
"As you would expect, in accordance with good governance, these issues were discussed fully at the board in an open and transparent way. I provided my fellow directors with all of the information they required and there are no outstanding issues.
"ETI remains one of the most exciting stories on the African continent. It is an ongoing honour to chair ETI and to be part of the team dedicated to serving our customers and delivering growth for our shareholders. The management and staff remain motivated and ambitious and continue to meet obligations to all stakeholders in the most professional and timely manner. We continue to focus on the sterling performance of the bank, which includes a rise of 33% in its share price since January 2013. We look forward to continuing to develop this outstanding business.
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