THE bubble in the financial system (i.e. banking industry) has made some investors to think that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will shove them aside and take over the banks from them. May be they are reacting to the statement by the CBN governor that it is the depositors and creditors that own the banks. He is not saying that investors have lost their investments in these banks.
Even though I am not the spokesman of the CBN governor, I don’t believe that all the investors in these banks have lost their investments. Investors can only loose hope if the banks are liquidated and all the assets and every other thing they recovered do not meet up the creditor liability, because despite the fact that the CBN has taken over the management of these banks, it does not in anyway mean that investors have lost their investments.
In fact, the record are available for anybody to see that even banks that are liquidated like  the defunct  Merchant Bank Limited , at the end of the day, 50 kobo of ordinary share earned more than N1.50 and NDIC is  the one that distributed that dividends. It is the same with Alpha Merchant Bank, a shareholder of that bank after the liquidation, earned more than N10.00 for a 50 kobo ordinary share.
It is not true that because, the CBN has taken over the management of these banks, shareholders should consider their investment as lost. Their investments can only be lost if the bank is going into liquidation. And even after liquidation all the realized assets can not meet up their liability. In that context, we can not say that the ordinary shareholders have lost their investments.
I advise investors to have rest of mind. The fact that the CBN has taken over the management of the banks does not mean they have lost their investment. I believe that the subsequent statements by the CBN governor made it clear that some banks are not too big to fall. This means that the fall of the bank will be a disaster to the entire economy and the nation in general, and in view of this, the CBN is prepared to make sure that they become more viable. So, I can say that the view that investors in those banks have lost their investment, that is not true
Certainly, we know that today, quite a number of these banks managed by the CBN  have made a successful recovery and for them to achieve this, the CBN has already provided that eroded  shareholder investment  provision made on behalf of those bad debt will now be written back and will bring  back  activities  of those banks. Definitely, by the time shareholders funds become positive, the investors can be rest assured that these banks have so many things to take.
One, most of these banks are big bank, so they are too strong to fall. Two, most of the banks have good management and also good will, that is good product, good brand. Those that do business with them have no fear.
Don’t forget that as I am talking to you, there are foreign investors from UK and I can assure you before the end of this year it is likely to get some from the middle east and far Asia like China to come and take up these banks.
No body doubts the price of StanbicIBTC and Diamond Bank because of their performance in the market. If not because of the bubble in the banking industry, everybody wanted to have banking stocks in their portfolio not because of any other thing but because of the confidence investors have in them. Investors should not panic; they should not sell their shares out of panic. What we are experiencing is tough time and it can never last for ever. Investors should hold their investments and have confidence in these banks because it is just a matter of time, probably before the end of this year or by early next year the price of these stocks can never remain where they are today by that time you will hardly get them for 100 per cent of the price.
What is happening here is not different from what happened in Britain and America. But today, their markets are recovering. At a time Citibank was trading at $1 but today is more than $5.
Investors should please have confidence in the market, even the so called good banks, I can recall back in 1991 during privatisation. What were the price of First Bank and Union Bank were less than N2 and N1 respectively; at that time the prices of many stocks of the so called good bank were not even up to the current price. Why should investors have fear? The heavens did not fall that time and it will not fall this time around; investors should have confidence that with time the market will bounce back.