N740bn debt: AMCON to disengage ineffective recovery firms

The Managing Director/CEO, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru, has hinted on the corporation’s plan to disengage Asset Management Partners (AMPs) that are not effective in recovering N740 billion debts assigned to them.

The AMPs are currently handling over 6,000 accounts within AMCON portfolio but outsourced to them.

The accounts outsourced to the AMPs constitute only 20 per cent or N740 billion of the total Eligible Bank Assets (EBA) portfolio of N3.7 trillion.

Kuru said AMCON places equal importance on the recovery efforts as they count towards the achievement of the corporation’s core mandate.

He also promised that the corporation may assign more accounts to AMPs that have shown aggression and zeal based on the review of the AMP scheme so far.

Kuru was speaking at the 2019 edition of the AMCON/AMPs Interactive/Feedback session in Abuja.

AMPs are consortiums appointed by AMCON after a rigorous selection process with specialist skills required to ensure recovery and debt resolution; banking, legal, valuation and accounting.

Kuru said collaborating with AMPs became necessary because AMCON has a total portfolio of over 12,000 loans of various sizes and sectors that are still lingering many years after the corporation was established.

He stated that when this is compared to AMCON’s staff strength, it became obvious that the corporation surely needed a strategic approach to improve coverage, recovery and results.