KWARA and Kogi state governments have stepped up efforts to inject the balance of the required funds for the merger of Trade Bank Plc and Afribank Nig. Plc before the December 31 CBN deadline for recapitalisation.

The two state governments are the principal shareholders of the 18-year-old Trade Bank.

High-level talks were said to be going on between the owner states and Afribank to ensure a seamless merger.

Trade Bank's membership of the Afribank Group received a major boost and confirmation last April with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and the granting of pre-merger consent to the group by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The group is now at the approval-in-principle stage. Besides, a valuation exercise on Trade Bank, Afribank International (Merchant Bankers) Ltd, another member of the group was recently conducted to determine their share exchange ratio.