Access Bank and Zenith Bank, two of Nigeria’s leading Tier-1 banks, the former with a recent aggressive foray into the continent with a large acquisitive appetite, are believed to be sitting pretty at the table of talks that majority shareholder in Union Bank, the Bob Diamond controlled Atlas Mara, is intensifying efforts to sell its majority 49.97 per cent stake in the old horse.
Union Bank was once one of the three or four musketeers of Nigerian banking, popularly referred to as the old generation banks; the others being First Bank of Nigeria; United Bank for Africa and Afribank. hey were the golden behemoths of the industry with government controlling stakes and came to truly represent the meaning of too big to fail in those days, until the government sold controlling shares through a privatisation exercise.
Analysts say, following privatisation, rounds of banking consolidation and the global and local financial crises of 2007-2009, while its peers moved swiftly to reposition themselves in the financial services industry.