Letting a major bank fail was never an option, according to Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), but beyond rescuing the banks, holding those responsible for governance failings was critical for lasting reform.
Mr Sanusi's intervention has been swift. The CBN audited the entire banking sector in two rounds. The first, completed on August 14, saw the removal of the heads of Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank, who were then quickly investigated by the country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and charged with a range of offences, including market manipulation and misreporting to regulators. A list of debtors to the institutions was also published.
