SEC report: Ecobank to convene shareholders meeting

Ecobank is taking seriously a report on its governance by Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission and has made changes to strengthen corporate controls, the pan-African bank said in a statement on Monday, Reuters reports.

The bank will convene a meeting of shareholders once it receives in the next few weeks two other reports on governance and any potential lapses in internal control and audit, the statement said.

Nigeria’s securities regulator said on Thursday the pan-African bank showed a lack of transparency in its recruitments that fostered conflicts of interest and recommended it pick a new chairman.

“Changes have indeed already been made and the initiatives are under way to strengthen further ETI’s corporate governance,” said the Ecobank statement. It said the lender took the SEC press release “very seriously”.

Ecobank has commissioned a report into its governance by the Global Board Center at Switzerland’s International Institute for Management Development and expects to receive it by the end of January.

The bank said it is also awaiting a report by professional services firm EY, formerly Ernst & Young, into previous lapses in internal control and audit, which had already been identified and addressed by the board and management.