Sterling Bank’s attempt to shade some Nigerian banks must have been enjoyed by many social media users but certainly not the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s apex bank accused Sterling bank of demarketing the banks it poked fun at including GTB, Union Bank, First Bank and Access Bank in a letter and subsequently requested that the bank immediately “pull down the post from its Twitter handle, write and unreserved apology, through the same medium, to all banks whose logos and buildings you used in the advert and explain within twenty-four hours why regulatory sanctions should not be imposed on your bank.”
The CBN claimed this was “an attempt” by Sterling Bank to “exploit the power of the social media to demarket other banks”. They also claimed this was in violation of section 44 of the Banking and Other Financial Institution Act (BOFIA).
In line with this request, Sterling Bank shared a tweet apologising to the banks:
Our apologies go out to all the banks -the likeness of whose logos & buildings featured in a post which we have since deleted.
We remain committed to building an organisation that enables our youth find expression & we will continue to do this in the most responsible fashion. pic.twitter.com/ZBgGBRel9b
— Sterling Bank Plc (@Sterling_Bankng) July 24, 2018
“Our apologies go out to all the banks -the likeness of whose logos & buildings featured in a post which we have since deleted. We remain committed to building an organisation that enables our youth to find expression & we will continue to do this in the most responsible fashion.”
This is perhaps a wakeup call for social media managers to be careful about what they share on the handles of their brands. However, this does not diminish the fact that we enjoyed the tweet and the creativity behind it.
