South Africa. PIC’s $250m investment in Ecobank was ‘highly speculative’, inquiry hears
A former executive of West Africa’s Ecobank who was suspended for blowing the whistle on alleged accounting irregularities within the organisation has questioned the soundness of an investment made by the Pubic Investment Corporation (PIC) in the bank.
The pan-African bank, which is based in Togo, operates in 36 African countries and four other countries outside of Africa. It has the largest footprint among all banks on the continent.
Nedbank holds the biggest share in Ecobank, with a 21.1% stake, while the PIC holds 13.5%. Former PIC chief executive Dan Matjila was the PIC’s non-executive director on the board.
Altu Sadie, former chief financial officer in the cards and electronic banking division at Ecobank, told the judicial inquiry into issues of misconduct at the PIC on Tuesday that the state asset manager’s equity investment of $250 million had depreciated by approximately $85 million since April 2012.
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