A coalition of minority retail shareholders in FBN Holdings Plc yesterday called on regulatory authorities to wade into alleged attempts by certain individuals to undermine the oldest financial services group in the country.
Shareholders who staged a solidarity protest at the Marina, Lagos head office of FBN Holdings, said several petitions have been submitted to the regulatory bodies concerning clandestine plots to frustrate the board and management of the group and make the first-tier bank vulnerable.
According to the shareholders, there was ample evidence before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulatory bodies to take action.
They alleged that there were moves to frustrate the forthcoming annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled for next week amid a plan to expand the capital base of the banking group.
The inability of FBN Holdings to hold AGM will expose the group to several defaults and sanctions for breach of corporate governance practices and extant rules at the capital market.
The group, unlike other competitors that are taking proactive measures to beef up their capital base, will also not be able to increase its capital, the key measurement of a financial services group.
At the forthcoming AGM, apart from the ordinary businesses of consideration and approval of annual financial accounts and reports, dividend payment and audit committee, among others, FBN Holdings also plans to seek shareholders’ approval to increase its share capital, raise new equity funds and appoint new directors.
Chairman of Trusted Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Mukhtar Mukhtar, who spoke on behalf of other minority shareholders, said they were calling on the regulators to take cognisance of the roles and institutional importance of FBN Holdings and act to protect the group from aggressive moves by some individuals to undermine the group.
He said an AGM is a statutory meeting and an attempt by some individuals to stop the group’s general meeting amounts to direct sabotage, especially when such a meeting has been duly convened in line with requisite corporate governance rules.
He pointed out that FBN Holdings has an important, systemic function in the economy of Nigeria as one of the few banks that stabilise most of the monetary and fiscal policy and banking practices.
