By Collins Nweze

 

The comb effects of the covid-19 pandemic and external sector weaknesses drove foreign investments to a three-year low of $1.3 billion in second quarter of 2020, President of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN),  Ike Chioke has said.

Speaking during the Annual General Meeting of the association and the 2020 Investment Banking Awards, in Lagos, he said 2020 will go down as a very difficult year for many countries across the globe as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said Nigeria has been hit by multiple headwinds in addition to the pandemic which have affected our economy negatively.

“Consequently, the Nigerian economy contracted by 6.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 from 1.9 per cent in the first quarter. This is the worst performance on record. This contraction was driven by the reduction in oil output and the shutdown in economic activity in many key sectors following the lockdown and social distancing measures implemented to curb the spread of the pandemic,” he said.

He disclosed that if that was not bad enough, the recent “End SARS” protests across the nation halted the reopening of the economy and snowballed into a civil unrest that has led to trillions of naira of economic and financial losses to governments, corporates and individuals.

Read Also: SDGs Office faults report on alleged N26.9b COVID-19 contract award

“Furthering the Central Bank of Nigeria’s pursuit of expansionary monetary policy, the Monetary Policy Committee at their last meeting reduced the Monetary Policy Rate from 12.50 per cent to 11.5 per cent, further putting pressure on deposit money banks to lower cost of credit in aid of growth. Cash Reserves Requirements and Liquidity Ratio were retained at 27.5 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively,” he said.

He said that in line with the negative GDP growth, Nigeria also saw a drop in foreign investments in the first half of 2020.

“Specifically, total capital importation declined 50 per cent from $14.3 billion in the half year 2019 to $7.2 billion in half year 2020. Foreign Portfolio Investments which accounted over 65 per cent of total capital importation declined 59 per cent to $4.7 billion in the first half of 2020 compared to the $11.4 billion recorded in the first half of 2019,” he said.

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He affirmed the notion that crypto-currencies are now a financial reality, stating that the time has come for the AIHN to encourage its members to brace up to the future of capital raising in the digital market.

“One of the things the AIHN will be championing going forward,” he said, “is how to prepare our members for the future of capital raising in a digital financial market.

“While crypto-currencies emerged as an experimental and alternative way to store value, they have now become the norm with a future that will significantly change the financial markets as we know it.”

Chioke said data from Bitcoin promoters in the country have shown that Nigeria recently overtook the United States as the country with the most downloads of the Bitcoin wallet.

According to him, 3,473 out of the 18,613 wallets downloaded between July and August this year were from Nigeria, which was well ahead of the 2,802 from the United States America while India remained a distant third with a total of 1,420 downloads during the same period.

“According to Usetulips, Nigeria is Africa’s leader on Bitcoin transfers averaging about $8 million in transfers weekly. The same report indicates that Nigeria recorded $34.4 million in trades during the second quarter of 2020. Data from Local Bitcoin also shows that Nigeria

“In a recent statement, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it will be taking a three-pronged approach to regulate innovation in the crypto sector which are safety, market deepening and providing solutions to problems.

“Clearly the users and regulators are moving in the right direction with regards to cryptos and hence we the operators cannot be left behind,” he said.

In line with a commitment to provide families the opportunity to secure the education of their children or wards, FBNQuest offers a Children Educational Trust to enable parents to secure the education of their children through a convenient and flexible plan.

The current economic realities have placed tremendous pressure on many families, and FBNQuest offers a dependable plan for saving for post-primary and secondary education of loved ones.

“In spite of the recent economic slowdown, most parents will agree that the importance of education is non-negotiable’’ stated Adekunle Awojobi, the Managing Director of FBNQuest Trustees. “We are here to assist parents with designing a Trust Plan that will support the plans for their children or wards, while there are still here and after.”

The Children Education Trust from FBNQuest supports a long-term investment plan with the added benefit of an Estate Planning solution that excludes probate, unlike other education products. In addition, the service is flexible and personalised, offering freedom that enables the settlor to pause or reduce contributions, or to transfer the benefits of the Trust arrangement to another beneficiary.

Covid-19 Response Report (CRR), produced by Oxford Business Group (OBG) in partnership with the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA), has called for  insights into the investment opportunities emerging in essential infrastructure and services as the continent works to recover from the economic impact of the pandemic.

Titled “Private Equity and Venture Capital in Africa”, the CRR will be available from 26 November and represents OBG’s first pan-African CRR report and comes in the year AVCA marks its 20th anniversary.

The CRR will provide in-depth analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) activity in an easy-to-navigate and accessible format, focusing on key data and infographics relating to the region’s socio-economic landscape.

The Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) has advised business leaders on the need to entrench sound corporate governance principles on their businesses. This, the accounting body said, will enhance their growth and profitability.

In a communique issued at the end of its  25th Annual National Conference in, Abuja  President and Chairman of Council, ANAN  Prof. Muhammad Mainoma,  said that the primary concern for every business seeking to achieve sustainable growth and development is developing effective financial management capabilities for their workforce.

Other participants including Director of Audit, and Acting Auditor General, Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation, Aghughu Adolphus, Representative of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Abdullahi Ya’u, among others agreed that the expected growth and profitability will not happen if an organisation does not set up the right measures to improve its operations in terms of governance and leadership.

The group advised to deploy recommendable effort and skills to minimise costs while seeking to attain higher revenue levels for the benefit of their organisations.

“The gold standard in financial management is more revenue, less costs and more investments leading to sustainable growth. Under these prevailing global economic conditions, the accountant has no choice than to be innovative and technology is a Siamese twin with innovation”.

“The accountant must not be reactive or taken unawares – he or she must foresee the future, upgrade his competencies and techniques and move with the times to be able to respond to the changing environment. The place of the Accountant must be at the forefront and should even be the one initiating the disruptive technologies,” they said.

According to the communique,  the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in financial reporting can never be undermined. It is a tool that the business community can never fathom to exempt in financial reporting. AI which is simulated intelligence in machines programmed to think, act and or mimic human intellectual ability is ‘applied’ and this application goes far and wide beyond better or faster processes. It inspires new ways of operating and building businesses globally.

The stakeholders argued that AI is complimenting human intelligence and  has not yet reached the level of replacing human intelligence completely, it could be a possibility in the future as its capabilities are being improved upon.

“Acaccountants in the 21st century and indeed future accountants would need to develop ways to improve their efficiencies in completing assignments and transforming their duties beyond achieving the normal minimum of analysis and interpretation of financial statements.”

“Accounting and finance professionals would need to go further to understand chain analysis, and just so, future accountants may not be regular day-to-day humans who get to office and opens some database to run some operations but rather those who are able to interpret financial transactions and events beyond what normal humans can imagine, think or see. AI in this sense is improving the way modern-day accounting and finance professionals think and view the world of business,” they said.

 

By Collins Nweze

 

 

BudgIT Foundation and Connected Development (CODE), two prominent civic-tech non-governmental organisations spearheading the advocacy for openness, transparency and accountability in public finance in Africa, have launched the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project (CTAP), an initiative that seeks to promote accountability and transparency through the tracking of COVID-19 intervention funds across seven African countries.

Both organisations will be leveraging their Tracka and Follow The Money platforms, as well as international chapters in other six focus African countries to activate a Pan-African tracking system for all COVID-19 funds received and donated to these countries.

“Retrospectively, our experience with tracking COVID-19 has shown a deeply rooted systemic profiteering culture, especially in an environment that lacks accountability and civic engagement.” said Oluseun Onigbinde, BudgIT’s Director and Co-founder. “We also observed that there is an increasing mistrust from citizens on the delivery of palliative care in Nigeria, Kenya and Liberia due to representatives who abuse the process and the absence of comprehensive citizen data” he added.

CODE’s Founder and Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, stated that “as nations of the world tackle the plague of coronavirus, with funding for African countries amassing in millions of dollars, it has become expedient to block financial leakages and ensure funds do not end up in personal pockets.

“With CTAP, BudgIT and CODE will advocate for accountability, transparency, and open governance while strengthening civic awareness and ensuring that targeted governments use COVID-19 intervention funds effectively.  The project will address the threat of  lack of accountability and the effects of COVID-19 on socio-economic development”  Lawal added.

The response to pandemics should prioritise the participation of citizens, including needs assessments and provision of palliatives, procurement and delivery of items, thus, the primary aim of this project will be to drive citizens’ engagement as well as innovative capabilities of tech tools to develop an interactive portal on data relevant to COVID-19, and use these data to enable collaboration between citizen fact-checking programmes and public institutions.

 

Beyond the engagement sessions with focus non-profits and frontline leaders, the project will visualize and disseminate the contribution of stakeholders to the COVID-19 Relief Fund and other related programs. More importantly, requests of citizens in vulnerable areas will be itemized while both organizations’ sms-to-web platform will be leveraged to deliver relevant data to the government and other stakeholders based on citizens’ requests. The project will also curate stories of COVID-19 case management, palliative measures and its impact on the citizens.

 

 

BudgIT and CODE are committed to working with relevant partners to understand the current transparency and accountability frameworks in focus countries; and devise strategies that combine citizen tracking and advocacy for reforms. Both organizations will promote collaboration and learning among local partners so they can be more effective and share lessons about accessing data, mobilizing citizens, and engaging governments.

 

By Collins Nweze

First City Monument Bank (FCMB), a foremost financial services provider in Nigeria, has been voted as the Best SME Bank in Africa, thereby consolidating its position as the dominant financial institution in the segment. The bank won the prestigious award at the Asian Banker Middle East and Africa Regional Awards held virtually on November 5, 2020.

The development is another confirmation of FCMB’s unequalled commitment and outstanding performance in offering exceptional services, including funding, capacity building and other value-added supports, to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

The Asian Banker is an authoritative platform for strategic business information for the financial services industry worldwide. The annual Awards organised by the firm is one of the most comprehensive, transparent and respected in the industry covering the full spectrum of topics and areas that constitute the financial services system.

Read Also: FCMB sustains new strengths in Q2

According to the Asian Banker, FCMB emerged as the Best SME Bank in Africa following, “series of online surveys across the region to gather feedback from thousands of customers per market. In the survey, we also asked customers to rate how well their main Banks have helped them during the crisis. The results and rankings are a true reflection of the voice of the customers”.

The organisers further stated that, “FCMB has introduced various digital initiatives into the SMEs segment, such as digital loan products (Quickloans) and its New Mobile banking platform. In addition, the bank launched a platform, which was a first of its kind, to help women owned businesses scale up, by leveraging access to financing schemes, mentorship programmes, as well as training and networking opportunities.

Commenting on the award, the Managing Director of FCMB, Mr. Adam Nuru, described it as another milestone and a clear demonstration that the various strategic initiatives and solutions offered by the Bank are yielding the desired results and appreciated in Nigeria and internationally.

Speaking while receiving the award, the Executive Director, Business Development, FCMB, Mrs. Bukola Smith, said the emergence of the Bank as the number one in the highly competitive SME category speaks volumes about its journey so far and its contribution to the success of businesses, despite the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Collins Nweze

Access Bank has shown its commitment to advancing the frontiers of industry agnostic technological innovation across Africa with Nigeria in focus. This position is entrenched by Access Bank’s sponsorship of the Nigerian Fintech week 2020. The week-long event sought to highlight FinTech as a solution to problems across different industries including health, agriculture and logistics.

Speaking at the event, Executive Director for Information Technology and Operations at Access Bank Plc, Ade Bajomo, said, “Access Bank is committed to positively impacting lives and building the economy through technology. For years, the bank has invested in several initiatives geared towards improving access to tecnological innovations while providing platforms for tech enthusiasts to innovate and make massive impact on the society.”

Read Also; Access Bank obtains CBN approval to restructure into Holdco

One of such innovation is Facepay which is a pioneer solution in Africa that captures the face of an individual and leverages same to grant access to financial services for the unbanked, make instore payments seamlessly at merchant locations and subsequently build queless branches.

Furthermore, Ade Bajomo spoke about how various Digital identity systems are leveraged across the world to provide economic inclusion for 1 billion people who are estimated to lack access to financial services because they do not have a form of  legally recognised identity.The foremost example was how India’s Aadhaar identity manangement programme which has 1.2 billion indians has been leveraged for financial inclusion,direct beneficiary programmes, humanitarian assistance, AML compliance and cost savings in government processes. He stated that Nigeria has a lot to learn from this and Access Bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital identity systems to promote economic inclusion.