Stanbic IBTC Ventures Limited says it has surrendered its license as a ventures capital manager.

In a notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday, the company said it surrendered the license voluntarily.

A ventures capital manager invests in early-stage companies, which are termed as risky, in exchange for equity in the companies they invest in.

“This is to inform The Nigerian Stock Exchange that Stanbic IBTC Ventures Limited (“SIVL”), a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) to surrender its licence as a Venture Capital Manager,” the notice, signed by Chidi Okeize, the company secretary, read.

“This surrender is entirely voluntary and the Commission has granted a “No Objection” to SIVL’s application.

“We also would like to state that SIVL does not have any Venture Capital obligations with any of its clients and the surrender of its licence would not impact negatively on the Stanbic IBTC Group as SIVL will still continue to operate as a going concern.”

The banking arm of Stanbic IBTC was fined N1.8 billion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for allegedly helping MTN illegally repatriate $8.1 billion.