Category: Money

Collins Nweze

THE new National Tax Identification Number (TIN) Registration System and Consolidated Taxpayers’ Database will help engender a tax-friendly  environment in the country and lay a foundation for less governmental dependence on loans, aids and grants, the chairman, Joint Tax Board, Babatunde Fowler, has declared.

Fowler, who is also Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), said on Thursday in Awka during the South-East regional flag-off of the new registration system, that the new TIN Registration System, will  improve efficiency and output of the entire tax administration process, providing enhanced convenience to the taxpayers as well as the tax administrators.

He added that the new system also guarantees that each taxpayer’s details are readily available every time and anywhere.

“A major feature of the new system is that it possesses the capability to integrate with all relevant agencies by leveraging on already captured data. With its ability to deploy analytics to discover underlying correlating trends and patterns, better visibility of the taxpayer is assured inherently leading to increased Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for all tiers of government. Thus, the new system reduces the burden of taxpayer information management, while at the same time significantly reducing the cost of collection,” Fowler said. He explained that the systen maintains the identification of an individual taxpayer by assigning of a unique and universal TIN, which makes possible for the taxpayer to view, retrieve or update his/her tax profile from anywhere and at any time.

The JTB Chairman commended revenue performances achieved by Anambra State and the whole of the South-East geo-political zone. He noted that Anambra State revenue collections, which stood at N10.4 billion in 2014, have grown by 84.6% as at 2018, with a total annual collection of N19.3 billion collected as IGR for the year. This positive trend, he added, is also set to continue in 2019 as half year figures for 2019 indicate a 22.9% growth over the correlating period for 2018.

He similarly noted that the performance of the South-East geopolitical zone also show encouraging growth trends as the cumulative collection of N77.31 billion for the year 2018 was a 16.66% improvement of the N66.27 billion collected in 2017.

“The year 2019 is looking quite positive as well as already, the sum of N42.98 billion has already been reported for the half year period. This represents an 18.1% growth over the N36.4 billion recorded for the half year period of 2018,” he said

Fowler also noted that over the last four years, the economic policies of the Federal Government have focused on establishing a stable foundation for further socio-economic growth and development.

Collins Nweze

NIGERIAN banks have continued to face lower margins, increased competition, often encouraged by regulators and cut in loans which have led to drop in revenue, a new report by McKinsey’s Global Banking & Securities has shown.

The report from the global management consulting firm, explained that although Returns on Equity (ROEs) remain better on average in Africa (15 per cent in Kenya, 16 per cent in South Africa and 14 per cent in Nigeria – against a world average of eight to nine per cent), African banks face similar challenges with their global counterparts.

The McKinsey’s Global Banking & Securities practice Global Banking Annual Review 2019,  titled: ‘The Last Pit Stop? Time for Bold Late-cycle Moves,’  said these trends are highly evident in Nigerian banks, adding that even though banks in the country are performing in line with or better than most of their African peers on ROE, revenue growth has decreased from 23 per cent seven years ago to -1 per cent at present.

It said bank lending growth was at -5 per cent in 2018 compared to 27 per cent in 2014. The decreases in growth have resulted in a price to book ratio below 1 at 0.81 for the sector.

Partner, Head of Transformation in Africa and Head of Financial Institutions for West Africa in McKinsey’s Nigeria Office, Frederick Twum, said that in Africa, where there are typically between 15 and 25 banks per country – most of which have a universal banking model – customer choice is a major challenge and banks should focus on segments and products to reach critical size.

“In Nigeria, banks have an existential need for scale and efficiency as lending contracts (-5 per cent in 2018) and the market continues to consolidate with tier 1 banks accounting for more than 60 per cent of market revenues in 2018, up from 56 per cent in 2013.

The report added that given indications that the economic situation is likely to worsen in the short-term, banks are approaching the last likely pitstop in this economic cycle and need to rapidly reinvent business models and scale up inorganically.

Senior Partner and Managing Director of McKinsey’s Nigeria office,  Rogerio Mascarenhas, said there was much to play for in Africa. “While there are big differences between countries and customer segments, the continent as a whole is predicting growth of 8.5 per cent per annum in the banking revenue pool over the next few years – above the global average. However, banks on the continent are not exempt from the challenges facing the sector globally and clear strategic choices will be necessary if they want to survive tough economic times,” he said.

MR Ernest Ndukwe on Tuesday relinguished his directorship  from Access Bank as  as an independent Non-Executive Director.

This was contained in a statement issued by Mr Sunday Ekwochi, the bank’s Company Secretary and posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) website.

“The Board of Directors of Access Bank hereby announces that Ndukwe has indicated his intention not to seek re-election during the bank’s 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM).

“Accordingly, he has resigned from the board, effective March 31, 2020, to enable him focus on his current and additional responsibilities.

“Ndukwe has confirmed that he has no disagreement with the board and there are no issues relating to his resignation that needs to be brought to the attention of the bank’s shareholders or the regulatory authorities.

“The board is identifying the right candidate to fill the resultant vacancy as soon as possible, and further announcement will be made in this regard, in due course,” the statement said.

The board expressed its appreciation to Ndukwe for his “immense contributions to the bank these past years”.

Meanwhile, the bank celebrated the World Savings Day with customers across the country. It engaged school children in the six geo-political zones on the importance of building an early savings culture and improving their future through financial independence.

The essence of the World Savings Day, which was celebrated by financial institutions and other related organisations in October 31,  was to increase public awareness on the importance of savings both for households and for the national economy. This also encompasses the CBN’s initiative to bridge financial literacy and inclusion particularly for children in Nigeria.

Following the allocation of schools by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to licensed banks, Access Bank visited schools in Lagos, Taraba, Nassarawa, Jigawa, Akwa Ibom, and Enugu States. In addition, Access Bank’s CEO, represented by other Senior Management, visited the Ebonyi University Staff School, called the ‘CEO School’ in Abakaliki, and celebrated with the students.

Addressing the students, Herbert Wigwe, represented by the Zonal Head, Commercial Banking East, Access Bank Plc., Fidel Ibeabuchi, said, “Imbibing a savings culture is an important aspect of child development, and as parents, guardians and teachers, it is our responsibility to instill in them this mentality. In addition, it encourages a sense of discipline and planning, which can also be applied in other parts of your lives. As you grow up, pay attention to your finances, because whatever habits you learn and adopt now will lay a foundation for your future.”

The World Savings Day celebration follows other commendable projects of Access Bank to promote a savings culture among Nigerians, which also include its partnership with MTN at the mPulse planet to educate pre-teens and teenagers on the importance of practicing good savings culture through new and interesting ideas.

Collins Nweze

INTERSWITCH Limited, a payment digitization firm,  has acquired eClat Healthcare Limited to improve healthcare delivery in Africa. The deal involves Interswitch acquiring a 60 per cent  stake in eClat through the purchase of shares from current shareholders and subscription to new shares issued by the company.

(Founded in 2012, eClat Healthcare Limited specializes in assisting healthcare service providers in planning, designing and operating their unique practices through the deployment of its bespoke healthcare technology platform, designed specifically for the healthcare environment in Africa.

eClat’s healthcare technology platform, consists of a core e-Clinic software (including electronic billing, immunization, ante-natal and care pathway functions), as well as a variety of additional specialist modules. Prior to the acquisition, eClat’s platform had become a leading Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform used in over 250 public and private healthcare facilities in Nigeria.

Founder and Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, said: “We are a technology company that is innovating to deliver value across sectors that are critical to Africa’s social and economic development, our acquisition of eClat demonstrates strong progress along this strategy and alignment with our corporate vision”.

(Co-founder/CEO of eClat Healthcare Limited, Wallace Ogufere stated “The growing adoption of value-based care, combined with the increasing level of usage of patient portals across the industry, has made it critical to take a new approach to patient engagement solution design in Nigeria. We expect to tightly integrate the eClat capabilities into the Interswitch platform, adding functionality that would enable providers to reach their entire patient populations by leveraging existing patient contact information”.

Collins Nweze

FIRST Bank of Nigeria Limited has rewarded 37 Firstmonie  agents with over N15 million cash prizes.

The winners, selected at different levels were presented with the cash rewards at a ceremony tagged: ‘Firstmonie Agent Banking National Award’ held in Lagos.

Speaking at the occasion themed “Planting Community Heroes Nationwide”, Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Adesola Adeduntan, said the Firstmonie agent network is a bespoke channel through which the bank expresses its unalloyed commitment and passion to promote opportunities and access to financial services by every Nigerian, especially within the low-income segment.

“The initiative has witnessed several changes in the operating structure and value proposition of FirstBank. In December 2017, the bank ran a pilot test with over 400,000 transactions processed and following the success of the first run, it re-launched in 2018”, the bank’s chief noted.

Deputy Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Francis Shobo, stated that the agents are the most critical part of the banking ecosystem because they take deposits, make payments and open accounts, provide transfers and sell airtime at locations with little or no access to financial services.

Shobo lauded the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele for the role the apex bank has played, stating that the CBN has made a lot of changes in regulation around agency banking, “they have allowed the programme to scale as much as it has scaled.”

At the well-attended ceremony, the sum of N250,000 each was won by 31 agents at the state level, N1 million each by five agents at the regional level and a grand prize of N2.5 million at the national level.

In chat with newsmen after receiving the cash prize at the event, the N2.5 million grand prize winner at the national level from Abuja (North Central), Zayyanu Hassan Ishaq, described his prize as a miracle of God.

Collins Nweze

THE Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Sanwo-Olu has assured  that the autonomy enjoyed by the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) will not be tampered with.

Sanwo-Olu, who spoke while receiving the leadership of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) at the State House in Alausa, according to a statement from the Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile, said the revenue agency has enjoyed unrestrained independence under his watch, stressing that his administration will continue to strengthen the agency to achieve its yearly revenue targets.

The Governor said his Government had fortified LIRS by prioritising the agency’s monthly subventions and  its personnel to drive up efficiency. He said: “In terms of independence, LIRS has enjoyed complete freedom to operate and we are strengthening the agency for improved efficiency. This is why my administration prioritise any request from the agency. LIRS monthly allocation gets to them as first line charge and I don’t even need to approve before their overhead gets to them.

“We have made everything available in order to motivate LIRS to deliver on its mandate and we will continue to support the agency for improvement. I recently approved an increment in LIRS staff remuneration, because we know how important the success of the agency is to my administration.”

Sanwo-Olu said his administration’s tax drive was not to hurt the residents and businesses operating in the State, but the government needed to widen the tax net in order to get key promises of his administration delivered.

He praised members of the Institute led by its Chairman, Dame Olajumoke Simplice.for strengthening public institutions on revenue generation drive through regular capacity building and interventions that benefited the State.

Mrs. Simplice said despite the innovative approach deployed by Lagos Government in its tax administration, the state could achieve improved efficiency and growth in its revenue generation.

She urged the Governor to appoint tax professionals as decision makers in strategic Government’s departments and agencies, adding that Lagos must re-invigorate its tax advocacy to capture those in informal sector.

Collins Nweze

The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has expressed its readiness to tackle emerging challenges in the  banking sector and economy.

Its Managing Director/ Chief Executive, Umaru Ibrahim stated this at the corporation’s 30th anniversary dinner held in Lagos.

He said the corporation had come a long way and will continue to take steps that would strengthen the banking system and economy.

Read Also: ‘NDIC remits N212.7 billion to CRF in 30 years’

“This 30th anniversary for us serves as an  interception,  a reflection for us. Like I said who we are, what we are, where we are coming from and how we have coped over time with all the difficulties in the last 30 years but I think more importantly, we need to acknowledge the fact that we need to reposition the corporation to face new challenges ahead,” he said.

Ibrahim noted that the new challenges which includes new emerging operational risks, phenomenal growth of assets of the Nigerian banking industry and its implications  for supervision, regulations among others.

He said: “ Our growing population, phenomenal growth of the Nigerian population, young population and the demographic shift, changing customer preferences, poverty and unemployment. These are challenges which could largely be addressed if we have a very stable banking system. “We are also aware of the emerging role of financial technologies  in the financial landscape, blockchain technology and phenomenal incursion of digital currencies globally and Nigeria is not left behind. In fact, it is in appreciation of this that arrangements are underway to develop a special team of experts in innovation and digital technology in the NDIC”.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, a member of Standard Bank Group, has unveiled its @ease wallet, in line with its commitment to deepening financial inclusion and drive its digitilisation agenda.

The product will provide a unique range of services to the informally served, the underbanked and the unbanked on various structured platforms with the last 10 digits of a phone number.

Stanbic IBTC @ease wallet affords customers the opportunity to access banking services such as interbank transfers, debit card issuance and card less withdrawals from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or the Agent Network, amongst others. This reinforces Stanbic IBTC Bank’s drive to support the federal government to deepen financial inclusion and drive economic growth.

However, customers can open a Stanbic IBTC @ease wallet through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) application- *909#; Stanbic IBTC @ease App and Agent at any location nationwide.

Executive Director, Personal and Business Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Wole Adeniyi, said: “The Stanbic IBTC @ease wallet is a financial freedom vehicle for all Nigerians to access seamless financial services.”

Read Also: CBN to sanction banks diverting agric loans to T-Bills

This service is available to every Nigerian that can legally own a bank account. Following the product launch, there will be a series of Market and Campus Activations starting from  the Lagos International Trade Fair, where we will introduce an array of products to visitors and exhibitors at the fair.”

“We recognise the daily complexities of living in a fast-paced digital society. Stanbic IBTC @ease Wallet covers a unique range of mobile financial transactions, it is intuitive and designed around the needs of the average Nigerian.”