CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele – owner of Titan Trust Bank

Godwin Emefiele has been revealed as the alleged owner of controversial Titan Trust Bank TTB which acquired Union Bank, DailiesNG reports.

Titan Trust Bank, or TTB, is a relatively new banking brand with only two active offices in Lagos, Nigeria’s metropolis as at the time is acquired Union Bank Plc.

Agreeably, miracles still happen in this ‘wonderful’ part of the world, however, it is also a fact that Titan Trust Bank’s sudden rise to the point of acquiring Union Bank Plc, a massive banking brand with a whopping significantly large asset size of about $4.9 billion (N2.59 trillion) according to its FY 2021 audited financial statements, remains a mystery and an algebra without mathematical solution.

Union Bank disclosed the anticipated transaction in a corporate disclosure filed with the Nigerian Exchange on December 23rd, 2021, after its main investors decided to sell their 93.41 percent holdings.

Titan Trust Bank is barely three years, more so, the bank is just finding its feet in the highly competitive Nigerian banking industry. As such, some people wondered where it could possibly get funds to facilitate the planned acquisition, while others keenly waited to see whether the acquisition could actually come to fruition.

On June 6 2022, the African Export Import Ban (Afreximbank) announced that it had disbursed the sum of $300 million to help complement the total amount needed by Titan Trust Bank to finalise the acquisition of Union Bank. Afreximbank noted that the said fund was disbursed under its Intra-African Investment Financing Facility.

But from all calculations, it appears as if all the companies involved in acquisition have not exactly disclosed how much it had actually cost Titan Trust to acquire Union Bank. As we pointed out earlier, Union Bank had a total asset value of $4.9 billion as of December 2021.

So, even with the $300 million from Afreximbank, a lot more money would have still been needed to facilitate the deal. And it’s most likely that Titan Trust secured funding from other sources besides Afreximbank which it deliberately refused to mention.

The above analysis given by DailiesNG among a number of other factors corroborates public opinion that obviously Titan Trust Bank is favored by an influential individual or persons whose vested interest is covertly hinged to the success of the bank.

The fact that Titan Trust Bank’s National Banking License is the first National Banking License that the Central Bank of Nigeria has granted in the last ten years, since former Central Bank Governor Chukwuma Soludo enacted the N25 billion capitalization funds directive for National banks in Nigeria, is one of such factors that also warrants further investigation.

Who Owns Titan Trust Bank?
The above is a question most netizens including those in the banking industry have been asking since Titan Trust Bank miraculously acquired Union Bank.

However, according to an ongoing investigation by DailiesNG, current Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele is the owner of Titan Trust Bank and has allegedly put it in the hands of his cronies to run.

Also, there are also strong indications that the CBN Governor who is also allegedly among the highest shareholders in Union Bank Plc may have played major role in the acquisition of the bank’s shares by TTB.