Alleged EFCC Officials raid Standard Chartered Bank Head Office

Friday, September 14, 2018 7.30PM / Proshare WebTV

According to reports from Punch Newspapers about 20 operatives from the Nigerian anti-graft agency the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, this evening raided the head office of the Standard Chartered Bank.

The Head office located in Victoria Island, Lagos was the cynosure of all eyes today as the operatives were seeking to arrest the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank.

Following this development the Spokesman of the EFCC Mr. Wilson Uwujaren issued a statement to this read that reads “Following repeated media enquiries regarding a purported raid on the head office of the Standard Chartered Bank today September 14, by operatives of the EFCC, the commission is constrained to state that there was no raid on the bank by its officers.

“The raid by operatives purportedly wearing the jackets of the commission might have been the handiwork of errant officers who acted without authorization”.

“The action is in flagrant violation of the standard operating procedures of the commission as it is not the style of the EFCC to openly raid the offices of banks and other financial institutions.

“Officials of such institutions, who are wanted by the commission, are usually invited for questioning after discreet investigation. Over the years, banks have been cooperative in releasing their officers to the Commission for questioning.”

About Standard Chartered Bank

In 1965, the Standard Bank of South Africa merged with the Bank of West Africa acquiring businesses including a banking operation in Nigeria, which dated back to 1894. The name was then changed to Standard Bank of West Africa. Four years after the merger, Standard Bank Nigeria was incorporated locally to take over the business in Nigeria. In 1971, 13% of the share capital was placed with Nigerian investors. The end of the civil war saw a major economic upturn and as a consequence, the military government sought to increase local control of the retail-banking sector, hence the Bank’s investment in Standard Bank Nigeria (renamed First Bank of Nigeria in 1979) was reduced to 38%. Standard Chartered remained a shareholder of First Bank of Nigeria until 1996.

Standard Chartered re-entered Nigeria in 1999 and opened to customers on 15 September 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank Plc, headquartered in United Kingdom.

Today, the Bank offers a wide range of products and services in Retail; Wealth Management; Commercial; Corporate and Institutional; Private and Transaction Banking business. Standard Chartered employs over 905 staff and sees Nigeria as a growth centre. There are about 35 branches, with ATMs in each branch, located in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. The new ultra-modern Nigeria Head Office was opened in 2014.