Heritage Bank's 2,000 staff were left reeling after regulators suddenly revoked its license, leaving them jobless with no prior notice despite the bank's liquidity issues.
The sudden revocation of Heritage Bank's operating license on June 3 left nearly 2,000 employees jobless and in a state of disbelief, according to multiple former staff members. Despite years of liquidity issues and speculation about the tier-2 bank's future, the decision by regulators appeared to catch most employees off guard.
"Nobody had any inkling this was coming. We received no prior notice whatsoever," revealed a former account officer who requested anonymity. "One morning, NDIC officials simply walked in and ordered us to evacuate the premises immediately after packing our personal belongings."
Several ex-employees stated that senior management had anticipated some form of intervention by the Central Bank, potentially a bridge bank arrangement aimed at stabilizing operations. However, the nuclear option of liquidating the bank's license was not on anyone's radar.
In the weeks leading up to the revocation, Heritage had been restricting customer withdrawals and account access as its financial woes mounted, sources said. Salary payments to staff were also being made into their Heritage accounts.
This likely contributed to the shock, as regulators purposely avoided tipping their hands to prevent a disorderly bank run before taking control of the situation. Staff initially assumed the NDIC's June 3rd arrival was related to a routine anti-money laundering audit.
"They gave no warning, just firmly instructed us to immediately vacate the building with only our personal effects," recounted a former teller from the bank's Ajose Adeleye branch. "It was meant to be sudden, so no funds or assets could be improperly moved beforehand."
In the aftermath, terminated staff have been scrambling to access salaries and any insured deposits below 5 million naira by filling out paperwork with the NDIC. For some low-level employees, even securing transportation to NDIC offices has proven challenging following the abrupt job losses.
The liquidation caps months of internal turmoil at Heritage, including waves of layoffs via terminated third-party contracts and staff demotions as the bank struggled to survive. Unions had been negotiating severance packages before being blindsided by the license revocation. While devastating for Heritage's workers, the news has spurred a surge of job postings from other banks aimed at absorbing the influx of experienced financial talent now on the market.
Source: TechCabal
