Category: Money

Collins Nweze

E-Tranzact International Plc has opened application list for its N7 billion rights issue, providing shareholders the opportunity to increase their shareaholdings in the electronic payment company.

E-Tranzact is offering 4.67 billion ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N1.50 per share. The rights have been pre-allotted on the basis of 10 new ordinary shares for every nine ordinary shares held as at March 25, 2020. Acceptance list, which opened on July 14, will run till August 10, 2020.

Shareholders of E-Tranzact had in December 2018 authorised the board of the company to raise additional capital of up to N7 billion through the issuance of any form of equity instruments, whether by way of public offering, private placement, rights issue, offer for subscription or other methods they deem fit, with or without preferential allotments, either locally or internationally, at such dates and on such terms and conditions as shall be determined by the directors.

Shareholders also empowered the directors to consider as an alternative or addition issuance of convertible or non-convertible loans while allowing the company to issue undersubscribed shares to interested investors as well as absorb excess subscriptions.

Shareholders had also increased the company’s authorised share capital from N2.1 billion or 4.2 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to N9.1 billion or 18.2 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

E-Tranzact may use its new issue to correct its free float deficiency, which is 1.78 per cent below the benchmark set for its listing category at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). E-Tranzact has a free float of 18.22 per cent, 1.78 per cent below the 20 per cent benchmark. E-Tranzact had been given a deadline of December 07, 2020 to redress the deficiency by either reducing the concentrated core shareholdings or dilute them.

Free float, otherwise known as public float, refers to the number of shares of a quoted company held by ordinary shareholders other than those directly or indirectly held by its parent, subsidiary or associate companies or any subsidiaries or associates of its parent company; its directors who are holding office as directors of the entity and their close family members and any single individual or institutional shareholder holding a statutorily significant stake, which is 5.0 per cent and above in Nigeria.

 Collins Nweze

FIRSTBank of Nigeria Limited has announced the convening of a Business Clinic to promote the growth and sustainability of the educational sector, especially in the light of the coronavirus, which  adversely effecting the schools.

The event is scheduled to hold via Zoom by 11:00am on Thursday, July 23, 2020.

“Managing Your School through the Pandemic: Engagement and Retention Strategies,” is the topic of the event and will be discussed by experts, leading players, policy influencers and proprietors in business and education management that have carved a niche for themselves at promoting the growth of education and business towards impacting the national economy.

The panelists at the event will include Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, Commissioner of Education, Lagos State; Dr Yomi Otubela, President, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS); Wale Abioye, Team Lead, Customer Practice in Management Consulting (KPMG); Babatunde Vaughan, Education Lead, Modern Classroom Microsoft Nigeria; Tinu Aluko, Proprietor, Busy Bee & West Mills and Bankole Adediran, Head Transaction Banking Products, FirstBank of Nigeria.

Deputy Managing Director, FirstBank Gbenga Shobo, said: “The education sector remains the bedrock of the growth and development of any nation – without a viable educational system, the human capital would be incapable of driving national growth and development. FirstBank is delighted to convene this event as it reinforces our leading role at enabling the growth of the educational sector in the country, over the years.

From Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor)

Shareholders of Jaiz Bank Plc, will receive their first ever dividend payment since the bank began operation.

Shareholders of Jaiz Bank  yesterday approved the bank’s proposed dividend payment out of N0.03 kobo per 50 kobo ordinary share N884 million) for the year ended 2019.

At its 8th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the bank’s Head Office in Abuja yesterday, chairman of the bank, Alhaji (Dr.) Umaru Abdul Mutallab, said the total N884million dividend payment will be subject to appropriate withholding tax.

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According to him,  “This dividend despite being modest signifies a lot to our shareholders, board and management. We remain strongly committed to sustaining the tempo in the coming year”.

The board pledged that “the bank is strongly committed towards creating optimum value to all its stakeholders.”

The payment will be made electronically to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at 26th June, 2020 and who must have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the registrar to pay their dividends directly into their bank accounts.

It was also revealed at the AGM that Jaiz bank declared a Profit After Tax of ¦ 2.4billion in its audited financial results for the year 2019, showing an increase of 193 percent from ¦ 834.4million recorded in the corresponding period of 2018.

Collins Nweze

The Board of CRC Credit Bureau Limited has appointed Olusegun Alebiosu as its new Chairman and Mrs. Olajumoke Odulaja as Vice Chairman.

Alebiosu replaces Greg Jobome, who has completed his tenure. He joined the Board of CRC in 2016 as FirstBank representative.

Alebiousu is the Chief Risk Officer, FirstBank of Nigeria. Prior to joining FirstBank in September 2016, he served as Chief Risk Officer at Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, Chief Credit Risk Officer, African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and Group Head, Credit Policy and Deputy Chief Credit Risk Officer, United Bank for Africa Plc.

Olusegun holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management and a master’s  in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

He also holds a master’s in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Mrs. Odulaja is the Chief Risk Officer of Union Bank Plc. She has over 20 years in  banking with various managerial roles in Credit Risk Management.

Before joining Union Bank, she worked at Stanbic IBTC and Standard Chartered banks.

Collins Nweze

Keystone Bank Limited has advised Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) owners to grow their sales using digital tools.

The bank stated this during   a  capacity building initiative  for MSMEs owners in Lagos.

The training, tagged: “Boost With Facebook Digital Marketing Webinar Series,” was organised by the bank in partnership with Facebook via its Nigerian representative, Rabbington Media.

The Head of MSME at Keystone Bank, Helen Nwelle, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has affected a large number of SMEs who can no longer operate through physical stores and outlets and as such, the need to have an active online presence cannot be over-emphasised.

“Hence, the sessions provided a lot of learnings to enable businesses take advantage of the digital tools available on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram etc to reach new customers and grow their businesses.”

Also, Chief Executive Officer of Rabbington Media, Okemini Otum, said: “The turnout was far beyond our expectations, and we want to be able to reach many more SMEs through more partnerships like these. We commend the passion and commitment from Keystone Bank in seeing to the success of the project.

“The numerous testimonials from participants at the webinar proved how timely the training was and the needs it addressed in their various businesses and participants took away learnings which a lot of them immediately began to apply into building an online presence for their businesses.”

Collins Nweze

FirstBank of Nigeria Limited is giving free fuel to customers that use its Verve Card to make fuel purchases.

The Free Fuel promo,  activated by FirstBank, in collaboration with Verve International and Oando Plc., which kicked off on July 6, 2020 would end July 24, 2020.

Durng the promo, the bank said, for a minimum of N3,000 fuel purchased, FirstBank Verve Cardholders would receive five litres free at selected Oando fuel stations across Lagos every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

The Oando fuel stations, where the promo is running are Abijo (Lekki Stillwaters), Fola-Agoro, Maryland, Agege-Bypass, Lakowe, Lawanson, Ojodu- Berger, Alapere, Shiro Road (Fadeyi Ikorodu Rd.), Awolowo Rd (by Fire Service), Marina, and Tradefair stations.

Verve card is a secure debit card that allows the cardholder to meet his financial needs, such as payment for goods and services, airtime recharge, bill payments, funds transfer, etc.

It is accepted across Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Point of Sale (PoS), web and mobile platforms.

Collins Nweze

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks and other financial institutions to start debiting accounts of chronic loan defaulters from August 1.

The new CBN loan recovery policy means that loan defaulters who have funds in accounts across any bank in Nigeria should expect debit alert from their banks from the commencement date.

The directive is contained in a circular to banks with theme: ‘Operational Guidelines on Global Standing Instruction (GSI)– Individuals,’ signed by CBN Director, Financial Policy & Regulations, Kelvin Amigo.

The GSI guidelines empowers banks to debit loan defaulters’ accounts, including taking the accrued interest for unpaid loans  across the Nigerian financial system.

The execution of the exercise requires borrowers to sign a GSI mandate in hard copy or digital form, after which all qualifying accounts are linked to the borrower’s  Bank Verification Number (BVN). The GSI mandate form authorises the recovery of an amount specified by the bank from any/all accounts maintained by the borrower across all financial institutions.

Amugo said the CBN is empowered to take the new action by  Section 2 (d) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, requiring it to promote a sound financial system in Nigeria.

All CBN-licensed financial institutions connected to Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS)  Instant Payment (NIP) platform are included in the new loan recovery plan.

The automated GSI plan will be managed by NIBSS on behalf of banks using customers’ BVN.

Meanwhile, the CBN has unveiled guidelines for Non-Interest Financial Institutions under its Agri-Business, Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF), the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS) and seven other  intervention schemes.

The bank took the decision at its June meeting to unveil a framework that would integrate non-interest window in its intervention programmes aimed at supporting businesses and households that have been impacted negatively by the corona virus (COVID-19).

The guidelines stipulate that each Non-Interest Deposit Bank (full-fledged or window) is to set aside five per cent of its profit after tax (PAT) yearly as contribution to the Fund.

It added that each Non-Interest Deposit Bank is also to transfer its contribution to the CBN not later than 10 working days after the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the participating bank.