The Nation Newspaper

Category: Money

  • FCMB, TCF offer free eye surgeries, others

    FCMB, TCF offer free eye surgeries, others

    By Collins Nweze

    First City Monument Bank (FCMB), in partnership with Tulsi Chanrai Foundation (TCF) of India, has carried out free eye surgeries, correctional testing and provided glasses to over 300,000 Nigerians.

    The support came under the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, tagged Priceless Gift of Sight.

    Of this, the sight of almost 17,000 visually impaired Nigerians have been restored through surgeries, while the rest underwent tests to correct various eye defects and also received glasses.

    The yearly intervention, which started in 2009, has helped in providing free testing, surgeries and glasses in partnership with TCF in Kebbi, Cross River, Imo, Abuja, Katsina and Adamawa states.

    The FCMB Priceless Gift of Sight initiative has also raised awareness on the problems of cataract in Nigeria.

    Read Also; FCMB Group earnings hit N199.4b

    The bank’s support to address the problem has gone a long way to improve the socio-economic well-being of the beneficiaries and their respective families.

    Also, the programme serves as an avenue for indigenous medical and para-medical personnel to build their capacity.

    The Group Head, Corporate Affairs, FCMB,  Diran Olojo, explained that the programme is a key aspect of the bank’s CSR initiatives.

    “The importance of sight to the well-being of an individual and nation cannot be under-estimated. We are proud to sustain the execution of this initiative with Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, because it has continued to positively touch and transform the lives of thousands of people, homes, businesses and the entire society. There is no gift in the world better than giving sight to the visually impaired.

    “We believe that all communities in which we operate should benefit from our presence through our contribution to their sustainable development. We hope to extend this programme to more communities and states soon,’’ he said.

    The Chief Operating Officer of Tulsi Chanrai Foundation, Mr. Shravan Kasam, said: “FCMB has been a long-standing partner with TCF under the Mission for Vision programme across Nigeria. The continued partnership for over a decade reiterates the bank’s commitment to the society and is best demonstrated by the Gift of Sight to those who would have avoidably gone blind in their lifetime.

    “The interest shown by FCMB in the programme and the impact on beneficiaries are highly commendable. The need to address avoidable visual impairment in Nigeria is huge. We look forward to scaling up the programme and bringing the benefits to many more who are in need.”

  • Nigerian Civil Service, AIG partner on operational digitisation

    Nigerian Civil Service, AIG partner on operational digitisation

    By Collins Nweze

    The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) and the Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) have partnered on the digitisation of civil service functions and operations to save cost and promote operational efficiency.

    The partnership will see to the development and handing over of 26 documented Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) manuals to the OHCSF and the Federal Civil Service by the AIG for all processes carried out in the office.

    The SOPs are globally recognised as manuals that apply step-by-step instructions compiled by an organisation to assist its personnel perform their operational tasks accurately and effectively.

    The handing over ceremony held in Abuja was well attended by Directors, AIG team, SOPs champions in the OHCSF and the Press. While speaking at the event, Head of Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan the SOPs helps the team  to develop an effective system that complies with industry–specific regulations and standards to significantly reduce or avoid operational errors as well as unwanted work variations.

    The Chairman of the Africa Initiative for Governance, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede said, “The real issue is how fast we are able to get the entire Nigerian Government and not just the civil service to document its operating procedures.”

    In this way, and then going further to obtain ISO 9001:2015 certification, and finally digitalising all civil service functions and operations.

    Aig-Imoukhuede further explained that the new process will enable users of government service to interact with the service through official websites instead of the current inefficient paper-based method.

    The adoption of SOPs will ensure efficient, effective, and productive civil service. According to her, for a dynamic civil service to be achieved, it was pertinent to have laid down standards of operation.

    Yemi-Esan commended the departmental champions for their commitment and assiduous input that made the actualization of the SOPs a reality.

     

     

  • ANAN president unveils agenda

    ANAN president unveils agenda

    By Collins Nweze

    The newly appointed President and Chairman of Governing Council, the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) Prof. Benjamin Osisioma, has unveiled his plans for group.

    In his inaugural speech, the 12th president of ANAN, said he would be building additional structures that ensure ANAN University and the Nigerian College of Accountancy (NCA), Jos co-exist side by side.

    He challenged the NCA to rise to the occasion of expanding, extending and enlarging student enrollment to attain at least 10,000 per annum within the next five years.

    “We owe the success story of our past to our heroes and heroines who toiled with little or no rewards to get us to where we are. We will not forget them

    It would also be quite appropriate to acknowledge today the sacrifice of ANAN members. They are the real heroes – the geese that lay the golden eggs,’’ the new ANAN president said.

    On fiscal control and fund mobilisation, Osisioma said within the approval of the council, the council will offer a hefty discount to all members which will clear subscription arrears within the next six months.

    According to him, this administration hopes to make extensive moves to improve corporate governance in ANAN and overhaul the entire administrative machinery,

    He added that, “In the same way, the administration shall seek support of Council to introduce Regional offices for the regular operations of the association.

    “As a first step, Lagos shall be used as the Regional office for the South West. Additional offices will be opened in Enugu and Kano.

    “In addition, we shall create a small Administrative Unit in the Presidency to improve the efficiency and response time of the Presidency to challenges of leadership and governance.

    “Also, an Advisory Committee will be appointed to work with the President throughout the two-year term of this Presidency to ensure sound decisions, efficient implementation and effective outcome on all policy matters,” Osisioma said.

    He also mentioned the need for an upswing for a digitized environment as one of the unintended effects of the COVID pandemic.

    The new ANAN president expressed concern why the association had not been able to leverage on its intimidating resource base comprising men and women of distinction in public and private sectors to mobilise and secure needed support from these organisations.

    “The time has come for every worthy professional to stand up to be counted; they need to write their names in gold as vibrant contributors to the creation of a new order.

    “We have a new and modern College of Accountancy to build, Regional offices to develop, Nationwide Teaching and Learning  to re-engineer, National Conferences and Workshops to sponsor and Training and Capacity Building sessions to organize.

    Osisioma also noted that the Society for Forensic Accounting and Fraud Prevention (SFAFP) offers offered the only opportunity in the country where professionals were trained in forensic accounting with properly articulated forensic tool kit and technical know-how.

    He lauded the level of acceptance that ANAN had been able to generate globally, saying that the present administration would undertake to sustain the global confidence in the ANAN brand.

    The immediate past president of ANAN, Prof. Muhammad Mainoma, said in the last two years, digital technology, globalisation and regulation were main issues for the future accountant.

    According to him, we were able to conduct most of the teachings in the college (NCA) virtually.

    He said that the association’s Conference for 2020 was both physical and virtual, saying that the association had a number of virtual meetings.

    He also talked about effective manpower development put in place by his administration for the system to work, with defined line of responsibilities.

    On examination development, Mainoma noted that the decentralization of examination had the additional advantages of attracting more members since the convenience of writing close to your place of domicile might be a factor in choosing whether to apply or not.

    The Chief Executive Officer of ANAN, Nuruddeen Abdullahi, in his review of year 2020, said the Annual General Meeting was held both virtually and physically.

    He added that the 25th Annual Conference was also held in Abuja, saying that 556 members were elevated to the status of Fellows.

    On membership admission, Abdullahi said that 2,926 members were inducted and admitted into the association.

  • ABCON urges CBN on cryptocurrency policy

    ABCON urges CBN on cryptocurrency policy

    By Collins Nweze

    The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to introduce measures that will counter the advantages of cryptocurrencies as a channel for diaspora remittances.

    Making this call in its Quarterly Economic Review for the first quarter of of the year, ABCON said such measures were necessary to redirect diaspora remittance inflow away from cryptocurrency exchanges to official channels.

    The group lauded the CBN for the N5/$1 rebate scheme introduced to encourage diaspora Nigerians to use official channels for remittance transfer. It, however, noted that the apex bank needs to address other issues driving the patronage of cryptocurrency exchanges for remittance transfer.

    “It is noteworthy that public acceptability for cryptocurrency exchanges are rising which could be quite accountable for the wide drop in diaspora inflows to Nigeria. Insecurity in the country is giving it greater prominence as investors and citizens are finding cryptocurrency a safe haven for their wealth in case of any eventuality.”

    ABCON also expressed concerns over the country’s huge unemployment rate.

    Read Also: BREAKING: Gunmen kidnap private varsity students in Kaduna

    It stressed: “It is absolutely necessary for government to apply radical approaches with the use of both conventional and unconventional economic and political tools to redress the trend.

    “The cost of governance in Nigeria, which  is believed to rank among the highest in the world, must be drastically reduced to support social security funding.

    “The National Identification Number (NIN) exercise should be immediately linked to social security process.

    “Fiscal policy must interplay with Monetary to promote critical sectors of the economy where youths are employable. These include but not limited to agriculture, raw materials production chain and social/security services.”

    ABCON explained that in most emerging markets, bitcoin transfers surged last year, as the pandemic exposed the cheaper and more efficient digital remittance services.

    “Migrants sending money across borders to their families prefer the minimal transaction costs of cryptocurrency exchanges against the exorbitant costs of traditional money transfer companies like Western Union.

    “These exchanges override the political complications of official channels.The global reach of cryptocurrencies avoids the inflation risk inherent to official currencies, especially in politically unstable countries reliant on fickle foreign investors.

    “Thus, while we commend the efforts of CBN in introducing the package of Five Naira for One Dollar transfer, it can be seen from the analysis above that the challenges exceed just non-payment of foreign currency by the International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) and the exchange rate.

    “Strategies that satisfy the most sensitive of these advantages of cryptocurrency exchanges must be introduced to redirect flows to the official channel,” it said.

  • FirstBank upgrades website

    FirstBank upgrades website

    By Collins Nweze

    FirstBank Limited has announced the launch of its newly designed website.

    The website has been upgraded with features that are streamlined to reinforce its role in delivering seamless banking and technology solutions to its customers across the world.

    It was configured with modern design and improved functionality that eases customer experience while carrying out various activities on the site, including electronic banking.

    Non-customers are also able to open an account, putting them at an edge in the industry as they establish a relationship with the Bank that puts YOU, its customers, First.

    Read Also: ‘It’s disrespectful to Nigeria’

    The new website adopts a fresh, magazine-style look and feel for easy navigation in order to promote the access to essential information for its customers, FirstMonie agents, prospective agents and the public.

    This upgrade also guides one to make well-informed decisions about one’s personal, business and private financial needs.

    FirstBank Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Adesola Adeduntan,  said: “As one of the key contact points to existing and potential customers, the bank’s website remains a gateway to our business, supporting our unique value propositions and financial services solutions. As such, we are committed to continuously improve the overall user experience through intriguing content quality, exciting features and ease of navigation.’’

  • Union Bank launches UnionPro

    Union Bank launches UnionPro

    By Collins Nweze

    Union Bank has unveiled UnionPro, a product designed to provide tailored financial services and solutions to supermarkets and large retail chain stores.

    Union Bank’s Divisional Executive, Commercial Banking, Gloria Omereonye highlighted the key role of large retail stores and supermarkets in boosting the economy.

    Read Also: Fed Govt to auction N150b bonds today

    She outlined the benefits of UnionPro, reiterating the bank’s strategic approach to developing innovative services that support its customers.

    She said: “We are proud to support local businesses through tailored products and services that ease the challenges of doing business in Nigeria. With UnionPro, we are making a commitment to work closely with large retailers, providing the necessary support they require to grow and expand their businesses.”

  • Standard Bank gets new Chief Executive for Africa regions

    Standard Bank gets new Chief Executive for Africa regions

    By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

     

    Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets, has appointed Yinka Sanni as its new Chief Executive for Africa Regions and a member of the Group Leadership Council.

    Sanni, the group’s Regional Chief Executive for West Africa, takes over from Sola David-Borha, who is retiring after 31 years of distinguished service to the group.

    Sanni holds a B. A. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nigeria and an MBA from Obafemi Awolowo University.

    He attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School in 2009 and the Global CEO Programme at the Wharton School in 2017.

    He has over 30 years of experience in the financial sector across wholesale, retail and asset management, and joined Standard Bank Group’s Nigerian subsidiary, Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, in December 1990.

    In a note to employees, Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala congratulated Sanni, on his appointment and thanked David-Borha for her extraordinary contributions to the group.

    “Sola was appointed as the Chief Executive of Africa Regions in January 2017 and is one of the group’s most deeply expert and experienced bankers.

    “Under her leadership, the Africa Regions portfolio has grown remarkably in capacity, market share and contribution to the group’s headline earnings,” Tshabalala said.

    David-Borha has been a passionate advocate of culture change and executive leadership development, having sponsored the ‘Last Mile’ programme, which has resulted in the successful promotion of talented people into both Regional Chief Executive and Country Chief Executive positions, including the appointment of two female Chief Executives in the Africa Regions business.

    “It has been a great honour and privilege to serve and contribute to the growth of the Standard Bank Group.

    “I am delighted to be handing over to Yinka Sanni, an exceptional, authentic and experienced leader who will take the baton forward in driving Africa’s growth,” David-Borha said.

    David-Borha will remain with the group until the end of June to ensure a successful leadership transition and handover process.

    Sanni’s appointment takes effect from April 15.

     

  • FBNQuest recommends Commercial Papers, bonds to SMEs

    FBNQuest recommends Commercial Papers, bonds to SMEs

    By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

     

    FBNQuest Merchant Bank, the investment banking and asset management group of FBN Holdings Plc, is recommending commercial papers and bonds to corporate issuers seeking to raise working capital, expansion capital, refinance expensive debt and better match their cash obligations with revenue.

    Speaking at the latest edition of the Leading Conversation with FBNQuest webinar series,  Head Capital Markets, FBNQuest, Oluseun Olatidoye, noted that many companies do not take advantage of Nigeria’s growing commercial paper and bond market to access stable funds that match their capital needs.

    “Even though interest rates have trended higher in the first quarter of this year, there is still significant scope for many companies to access cheaper and more stable funding from investors who are seeking well-run businesses with predictable cashflows to invest in,” Olatidoye said.

    The webinar with the theme ‘Funding through Commercial Papers and Bonds’ was hosted to engage corporates and investors on the opportunities within issuing and investing in commercial papers and bonds.

    Other speakers included Summit Jain, Senior Executive Director at Valency International, a leading food ingredient supply chain company.

    He echoed the sentiment about the benefits of issuing commercial papers. ”We believe that corporates can lower the interest paid on bank debts by up to four percentage points by issuing commercial papers. Loans also offer other tremendous benefits in the macroeconomic environment,” said  Jain.

    The capital market has recorded a flurry of corporate commercial papers and bond issues since a sharp decline in interest rates in the third quarter of last year.

    “We think the market conditions have just cast the spotlight on a financing option that discerning companies should consider. We look forward to working with our clients to navigate the process to issuing CPs and bonds and therefore unlocking the efficiency and convenience that these instruments offer,” stated Olatidoye.

    FBNQuest has advised on the issuance of several commercial papers transactions for organisations such as Valency Agro Nigeria Limited, Mixta Real Estate Plc, Dangote Cement plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc (NB), Lafarge Africa Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN), Wema Bank Plc, and UACN Property Development Company Plc (UPDC).

    These transactions add to the organisations impressive portfolio of organisations it has supported, and once again highlights its capabilities in the successful execution of sizeable capital market and commercial debt transactions.

  • Lagos Commodities Exchange to list Nigeria’s maiden exchange traded notes

    Lagos Commodities Exchange to list Nigeria’s maiden exchange traded notes

    Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE) is set to list Nigeria’s first Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) in a major boost for the national agricultural development plan.

    Voriancorelli (VC) – a commodities aggregating company, plans to float a N20 billion ETNs on the LCFE, blazing the trail as the first company screened for listing on Exchange.

    VC, which has strong background in digitisation of commodities assets such as paddy rice, sorghum, soyabeans and maize, has secured approval for listing on the LCFE. Leading investment banking group, GTI Capital Limited introduced VC to LCFE.

    Chairman, Voriancorelli (VC), Mr Bolaji Akinboro explained that listing of Voriancorelli  would enable the company to access liquidity, operate under the Exchange’s rules and regulations as evidence of transparency and provide opportunities to create new forms of fungible and tradeable assets.

    According to him, Voriancorelli is the enabling connector that bridges the gap between businesses within the agricultural ecosystem, delivering sustainable value.

    “We are called the ‘matching company’’ because we primarily solve the problem of market linkage to make trading within the sector simple and scalable.

    “Underpinning the problem of market linkage is liquidity: whether in form of capital financing, credit, or grant. The cost and availability of this liquidity undercuts profitability for agribusinesses. Therefore, in collaboration with the LCFE, the strength of the capital markets will be brought to bear in agriculture for the first time.

    “We are thus making the market for commodities work in Nigeria. Beyond this, we are also supporting the commodities exchange as a stakeholder in its critical role to be an arbiter of transparency, integrity and supervision that provides an independent view of the ecosystem and all other market participants for healthy collaboration,” Akinboro said.

    Managing Director, Voriancorelli (VC), Mr Rufus Udechukwu explained that the firm offers commodities aggregation solution for agricultural commodities to key players by connecting them together via technology driven solutions to facilitate seamless transactions.

    Managing Director, Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE), Mr Akin Akeredolu-Ale expressed optimism about the impact of the various infrastructure being deployed by the Exchange under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    He said the company’s structured legal framework, operational framework and surveillance mechanism would create jobs, enhance operations of all stakeholders in the commodities value chain and grow the Gross Domestic Product GDP) of the Nigerian economy.

    According to him, the commodities sectors  are the primary sectors of an economy and once properly harnessed, they will have multiplier effects on production, manufacturing and by default the service and other sectors.

    “We started with a vision to create an enabling environment for all the commodity stakeholders to participate effectively for the development of the commodities value chain, ecosystem and the economy of the country. The Exchange is poised to deal in Exchange Traded Notes and not equities of listed companies,” Akeredolu-Ale said.

    He noted that the commodity sector did not suffer setback under COVID-19 pandemic period as people must always consume commodities, pointing out that the commodities ecosystem is a combined $1 trillion economy in the various asset classes comprising oil and gas, solid minerals and agriculture, which remain largely untapped.

    “The Exchange is working hard with all the dealing member firms, central securities depository, storage facility owners, capital market operators, rating companies, certification agents and many other institutions for the listing of transparent, structured, contracts for trading, capital raising and the development of the Nigerian commodities ecosystem,”  Akeredolu-Ale said.

     

     

     

  • NOVA Merchant Bank grows profit by 135% to N3.52b

    NOVA Merchant Bank grows profit by 135% to N3.52b

    NOVA Merchant Bank Limited witnessed a major leap in the immediate past financial year with three-digit growths across major performance indicators.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2020 showed that NOVA, a wholesale banker, grew its top-line by 130 per cent while pre-tax profit leapt by 134.7 per cent. The balance sheet of the bank also saw significant growth, enabling the bank to increase loans to customers by some 71 per cent.

    The report showed that profit before tax rose from N1.5 billion in 2019 to N3.52 billion in 2020. After taxes, net profit doubled by 112 per cent to N3.49 billion in 2020 compared with N1.65 billion in 2019. The bank recorded a decline in cost-to-income ratio from 55 per cent in 2019 to 44 per cent in 2020. Customer deposits also doubled from N40.5 billion in 2019 to N89.6 billion in 2020. Loans to customers grew by 71 per cent to N50 billion in 2020 compared with N29.3 billion in 2019.

    Managing Director, NOVA Merchant Bank Limited, Mr Nath Ude said it was gratifying that the wholesale banker achieved such significant growth amidst the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting macro-economic headwinds in 2020.

    “In 2021, we will continue to build on our strong foundation to significantly scale the business by focussing on exceeding the expectations of our customers through innovative financial solutions while expecting our non-bank subsidiaries to start contributing effectively to the group in line with our strategic intent,” Ude said.

    Chairman, NOVA Merchant Bank Limited, Mr Phillips Oduoza said it was a delight to see how the bank has maintained its growth trajectory and improve its efficiency during such a challenging period as 2020.

    “The bank is well positioned to benefit from the expected upsurge in economic activity and profit from the emerging opportunities this presents as the global economy emerges from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis,” Oduoza said.

    NOVA Merchant Bank offers an integrated suite of financial solutions covering wholesale banking, investment banking, asset management, wealth management, trade services, transaction banking, cash management and digital banking.