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SunTrust Bank absolves self from salary default at NASS

By Ifeoma Onochie
16 June 2017   |   4:10 am
Abdulqadir’s explanation followed the allegation by some employees of the National Assembly who presented themselves as customers of SunTrust Bank and claiming that their salaries were not paid even though the funds were released to the lender.

Going by the details of the results, the bank grew its bottom-line by 160.2 per cent as profit before tax moved from N131.9 million in mortgage banking operations, to N343.34 million in 2016.

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Following allegations of failure to honour salary obligations, to staff of the National Assembly, SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited yesterday re-iterated its stance on the matter saying it followed clear instructions and did not fail on its responsibilities.

The bank’s Executive Director, Finance and Risk Management, Usman Abdulqadir, who Wednesday addressed a press conference on the matter told The Guardian yesterday that said the proper employees of the National Assembly should do is to go back to their employers and demand their salaries.

Abdulqadir’s explanation followed the allegation by some employees of the National Assembly who presented themselves as customers of SunTrust Bank and claiming that their salaries were not paid even though the funds were released to the lender. But the bank said the mandate. “And this mandate is that they bring list of people they want to pay in various banks and our own is to transfer to the banks which will transfer to their respective customers. Let me tell you that there is no mandate we have not carried out.”

Explaining that the National Assembly is SunTrust’s “esteemed customer,” Abdulqadir said his bank manages some of its accounts and pays salaries to some of its staff, stressing that “we are bound to carry out the mandate the National Assembly gives to us.” According to him, “the complaints are not our customers.

“For the avoidance of doubt, SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited is a commercial bank duly licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The bank has executed all mandates given to it with respect to making payment on behalf of its customers promptly,” he told The Guardian.

He said that payment had since been made to various beneficiaries according to specific mandate issued by the National Assembly regarding some of its accounts run by SunTrust. “Those payments have since been relayed, some of them via Remita,” Abdulqadir said.

“My advice as I said during a press conference on Wednesday is that any persons who are yet to receive payments executed by us should have first checked with their relevant bankers to trace where such payments are held. We restate in clear terms that we do not fail to honour any obligation to our clients.

“We also deeply regret that an individual has lost his life. We extend our deepest condolences to his immediate family and the entire National Assembly family.”
According to him, “SunTrust Bank cares about its customers and ensures it keeps all charges at a minimum. Our accounts have a zero minimum opening balance. We do not charge our customers for SMS alerts. We do not charge its customers for using their SunTrust Bank debit cards on other bank’s ATM. Our debit cards are delivered by courier to the customer’s doorstep and SunTrust Bank does not charge for issuing debit cards.”

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