N2 trillion debt: AMCON goes after bank debtors

THE Asset Management Corporation ofNigeria (AMCON), set up to buy non-performing loans in the banking sector, is fine-tuning strategies to recover bad debts totalling over N2 trillion in banks.Nigerian Tribune gathered that the corporation had begun negotiations with some of the big debtors, with a view to paying back.This move was said to be yielding fruits, as some of the debtors were paying back.Only last week, the Managing Director, AMCON, Mustapha Chike-Obi, sent warning signals to the recalcitrant bank debtors, stressing that there was no hiding place for them under the present dispensation.According to him, the commission would spend the next 10 years managing all acquired assets, including non-performing loans, equity and real assets in a manner consistent with minimum resolution cost.'We will use every tool available to recover the money they owe. People must have to pay back. No way around it. You will soon see enforcement,' he said.He disclosed that all debtors on AMCON list were shut out from accessing loans in the sector, stressing that they could no longer access loans in any of the banks.On the level of recovery so far, the AMCON boss disclosed that the corporation had restructured and recovered over 10 per cent of the non-performing loans it acquired, adding that in the process, AMCON had tried to balance maximum recovery with minimum disruption of viable businesses.
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