The Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Segun Agbaje, has revealed that the exit of regulatory forbearance loans should not have come as a surprise to the Nigerian banks, as they all had letters to end it in 2023.
This was announced by Agbaje on Thursday, July 10, 2025, during an event following the listing of GTCO’s shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Agbaje insisted that the regulators gave more than enough time to the banks to sort out the forbearance issue, and as such, should not be surprised at the recent pronouncement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the matter.
What the GTCO Group CEO is saying
Agbaje said, ‘’I’m going to answer the question a bit differently if you don’t mind. First of all, I don’t think forbearance or the exit of forbearance should have come as a surprise to banks. We all basically had letters saying it would end in 2023. Therefore, we should have exited by the end of 2024.
‘’So whatever the regulators chose to do should not have come as a surprise. We were given more than enough time to adhere. That really is my position on forbearance.’’
On complaints by banks on the high percentage of cash they keep with the CBN, he said, ‘’I think CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) is a result of a liquidity overhang that was inherited by this government and this central bank. You have to find a methodical way of getting rid of the liquidity.
‘’My belief is that as the central bank sees normalized liquidity, they will reduce CRR over time. But I don’t think it’s realistic to expect them to just release CRR in the midst of what is a large liquidity overhang, which was inherited.’’
Challenging regulatory requirements
Agbaje pointed out that meeting the governance and regulatory requirements of the London Stock Exchange was very challenging, including that of the FCA. He also urged Nigerians to use the media a bit more responsibly.
He said, ‘’It’s very challenging. I mean, I can’t tell you. It’s not only the exchange that you have to meet. You have to meet the FCA.
‘’It’s the financial regulator here. I think, honestly, the takeaway is really you have to learn how to play by the rules. Because you’ll be surprised how much pops up.
‘’The other takeaway, which I pray we understand in Nigeria, is that we’ve got to use media a bit more responsibly. Because when you do a due diligence on a company, everything that has been said about that company or the individuals pops up. And you have to defend it.
‘’But people don’t see that. So you go through a lot of that. And you have to debunk. You have to confirm. You have to explain.’’
What you should know
GTCO had on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, recorded a significant milestone in its growth and expansion journey with the successful admission of its Ordinary Shares to the Equity Shares (International Commercial Companies Secondary Listing) category of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and to trade on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange.
This historic achievement makes GTCO Plc the 1st Financial Services Institution in West Africa to dual-list its Ordinary Shares on both the Nigerian and London stock exchanges, and subject to certain criteria.
The admission follows the successful pricing of its fully marketed offering (The Offering) on the London Stock Exchange to raise gross proceeds of $105million in exchange for 2.29 billion of new ordinary shares in the company, which was supported by a strong book of high-quality, long-term institutional investors.
The company’s shares are now trading on the LSE’s main market under the ticker “GTHC.” GTCO also confirmed its intention to change the ticker to “GTCO” following the cancellation of its Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) listing to reflect its current corporate structure and branding.
With ur GTB that are taking off my hard earn money for the loan I never applied for since last year September off from my Account.
Which any money that hit my account, you still take it off in my account.
I sent you a mail without any positive response from you even till now.
Reverts.