As bank customers know very well, COT—Commission on Turnover—is the little sum that banks charge for handling your transactions during any given month. Usually charged per N1,000, COT comes to a lot of money for banks.

But the bank which used to be known as Societe Generale Bank is staging a come back as Heritage Bank says it would not collect COT from customers who are ready to do business with it when ever it returns to market—which is expected to be before year end.

That appears to be good strategy. What Heritage is saying to potential customers is—‘we are ready to work hard – without reward now- to earn your trust .Give us a try, at no cost to you.’

Zero COT offers are however not new. Several banks have used it in the past. But as retail banking margins thinned in recent years and new regulations put the industry in turmoil, banks have needed every kobo they can get from their customers. In a related development, the bank has announced that it is deploying Finacle, the well known banking transaction processing software suite developed by Infosys Inc. Several Nigerian banks use Finacle too.

Dr Bukola Saraki a serving senator and former two-time governor of Kwara State is leading the efforts to bring the bank back to life. The bank had been founded by his father, Dr Olusola Saraki, now late, in the 1970s.It collapsed in the early 2000s under the weight of bad debts but a favourable court ruling and some say, strong political connections has helped the Sarakis to get another chance to bring back the bank. Bukola Saraki was once managing director of the bank before being elected governor of Kwara State in 1999.

Another positive development that should help the returning bank is the repeal fo the universal banking law. Therefore, the separation of commercial banks and investment banks and banking holding groups and those with regional licenses mean that it could only pay lower minimum capital requirements to restart business. In 2006,banks were required to have minimum equity capital of N25 billion under a re-capitalisation and consolidation programme.