Banks' Merger Talk: the Problem With Us, By Trade Bank PLC Chief.

(From Vanguard (Nigeria) - AAGM)

Byline: Kingsley Anaroke

ALHAJI Mohammed Umoru is the Head, Corporate Banking of Trade Bank Plc, one of the banks in merger talks with a group of banks of Northern geographical flavour. In this interview with Sunday Business, he appraises the CBN Governor's one hundred days in office and reveals the dynamic of public sector fund deposit as well as the problems in the merger talks. Excerpts:

TO be very objective, I think Prof. Charles Soludo means well for

the industry. And from comments and analyses that came up as a result of the policy nobody has condemned the initiative. Basically, what people are concerned with is the approach. Again, there are people who believe in its totality, that is the approach and the policy are good.

Well, the same thing may have been done in other countries but when you look at certain perculiar situations you have here in Nigeria you will discover that they may not work as they have worked in other countries. He has his own reasons. His argument is that depositors interest must be protected. The industry means a lot to this country as a whole if the banking industry is dead then the economy is dead.

There is no other sector of the economy that you can think of that does not have anything to do with the banking industry. So, to strengthen …