Nigerian auto manufacturer, Nord Automobiles, has accused Stanbic IBTC Bank of unilaterally debiting N700 million from its account without prior notice or a court order, amid an ongoing legal dispute between both parties.
The company’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Oluwatobi Ajayi, made the allegation in a detailed statement shared on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), describing the action as “unbelievably unethical” and damaging to local enterprise confidence.
According to Ajayi, the disputed debit occurred in April 2025 and stemmed from a disagreement over a Letter of Credit (LC) issued in 2022.
“We didn’t borrow money from them,” Ajayi stated. “They claimed that the LC we took in 2022—fully paid at the prevailing exchange rate of N430 to N480—was no longer valid, and that we now had to pay at over N1,600 for transactions that had long been closed.”
Ajayi explained that the bank alleged it had not received the LC’s dollar value from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and consequently held Nord liable for the difference in exchange rate.
Despite an ongoing legal process intended to resolve the dispute, the Nord CEO claimed the bank went ahead to debit N700 million from the company’s account without any formal communication.
“While the case is ongoing, the bank illegally debited N700 million from our account without notice. The ambush was unbelievably unethical,” he said.
Ajayi linked the development to a broader challenge faced by indigenous manufacturers, alleging that institutional bias and poor financial system practices continue to undermine Nigeria’s industrial growth.
As of the time of filing this report, Stanbic IBTC Bank had not publicly responded to the allegations.
