It has come to light that Sapelle International Bank Liberia Limited (SIBLL) has indeed been liquidated, and it is fully meeting its customers’ demands by the Central Bank of Liberia’s regulations.
A few days ago, the media reported that the bank had gone bankrupt and failed to meet the satisfaction of its customers suggesting non-compliance with the CBL’s regulations for all banking institutions across the country.
However, an in-depth independent investigation showed that the bank is fully capitalized in consonance with the CBL’s regulations and viable to maintain its customers and the public trust.
It was further established that there is no record or incident of customers walking to the SIBLL formerly GN Bank Liberia Limited on demands of payment or customers having difficulties in making withdrawals contrary to the media’s report.
Though the SIBLL was given a license to operate a commercial bank in Liberia in 2016 and at the time of the acquisition of the license, the First International Bank Liberia Limited (FIBLL), now defunct, was in the process of bankruptcy.
According to the report, to prevent the damage to the entire banking industry from the collapse of FIBLL and its negative implication for all other banks, the Central Bank Liberia entered into an arrangement with SIB Liberia Limited to take a significant portion of the assets and liabilities of the defunct banking institution.
This arrangement aimed to safeguard the stability of the Liberian banking sector. The transaction between SIB and the CBL helped uphold national confidence in the financial industry and averted a potential collapse of the former bank, thereby preventing substantial harm to the country’s commercial system.
The documents quote that SIBLL through that arrangement inherited or took over a legacy deposit of US$23.2 million and this liability, if FIBLL had been allowed to be fully liquidated, would have been a debt to be paid by the Liberian government and the CBL.
This deeper research also gathered that the SIBLL paid to date, US$14.9 million to the legacy depositors of FIBLL from 2016 up to the end of December 2023 and SIB’s effort saved key depositors such as NASSCORP, National Port Authority, National Disaster Management, Weasua Transport and a lot more companies and individuals from losing their deposits.
The investigation also found that the recent intervention made by the Central Bank of Liberia, by paying US$8.0 Million to SIBLL was done to reduce the burden on the bank of the payment of US$14.9 million which was made to the legacy depositors of the defunct FIBLL by SIBLL.
Sources within the confines of the SIBLL emphasized that the payment was not a stabilization fund, nor a payment made to prevent the bank from failing or going under adding, “The payment represents a reimbursement of portions of payment SIBLL made for and on behalf of the government and the Central Bank of Liberia to the legacy depositors of the defunct First International Bank Liberia Limited.”
SIBLL which is considered one of the best and fastest-growing banking institutions, considering its staff of 157, is currently operating in 17 locations in Liberia.
“It is expected that SIB would continue to be in Liberia for a lifetime and would continue to introduce innovative products and services to serve the people of Liberia,” a source assured.
Many customers who begged not to be named in this publication expressed disappointment in those media houses for what they called an unsubstantiated publication.
“This negative publication about the SIBLL is propaganda and the reason behind their actions remains unknown. Some of us who have been doing business with this bank have never and are not experiencing anything of such mentioned in their publication,” a customer said.
Others at the CBL expressed shock over the information disseminated in the publication noting,
“Some of us are perplexed by the concern that the bank hasn’t followed the CBL’s regulations, which is inaccurate. We are committed to safeguarding the country’s fiscal integrity and its citizens, and therefore, we do not cover up any commercial bank’s actions, including SIBLL. However, it should be noted that SIBLL is fully compliant with our regulations and policies.”
