The Nation Newspaper

Category: Money

  • Access Bank to reward 30 DiamondXtra customers daily

    ACCESS Bank Plc has unveiled a cash incentive campaign tagged “DiamondXtra Independence Splash” to reward over 30 DiamondXtra customers daily with cash prizes.

    The campaign, which started on October 2, 2019 will run to October 31, 2019 and will reward over 600 customers during the campaign period. The reward campaign is in commemoration of Nigeria’s 59th independence anniversary.

    Speaking at the unveiling ceremony in Lagos, Executive Director, Retail Banking, Access Bank Plc, Victor Etuokwu said the bank introduced the daily rewards promo in commemoration of the country’s independence to give as many Nigerians as possible financial freedom and empower them to fulfil their day to day needs as they celebrate Nigeria at 59.

    According to him, the DiamondXtra Independence Splash is a testimony to the bank’s commitment to empower Nigerians financially irrespective of their educational, religious and social status.

    “For 30 days of celebrating Nigeria at 59, we will be rewarding more than 30 lucky customers daily with cash prizes ranging from, N10,000, N20,000 and N50,000 respectively. This is our own little way of giving back to our loyal customers,” Etuokwu said.

    He explained that to qualify for the DiamondXtra Independence Splash reward scheme which is open to both new and existing customers, new customers are required to open a DiamondXtra savings account with just N5,000 by dialling *901# or walking into one of the bank’s branches to open the account.

    He however added that the more multiples of N5,000 both new and old customers save, the higher their chances of winning at the daily draw.

     

  • TheMap.ng to attract FDI

    By Collins Nweze 

    TheMap.ng, a Nigerian-based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firm, has said its services are geared towards attracting foreign direct investment to the economy and empowering Nigerians.

    Speaking at a media programme in Lagos, Managing Director, TheMap.ng, Anyanso Mma, said  the company will use virtual learning to attract FDI to the economy.

    He said the company is taking virtual reality learning to public and private schools across states in the country.

    The Lagos based company said this is to expose Nigerian students to the latest learning technology through virtual learning, and support the federal government in its drive to create jobs for Nigerian youths.

    Speaking with journalists in Lagos, the managing director, TheMap.ng, Mr Anyanso Mma, said the ripple effect of virtual learning is massive, stressing that the company is prepared to administer the projects across the country.   According to him, “We are taking virtual learning to public schools where it will be administrated to the students for free. It will be free for public schools for one year and thereafter the students will subscribe.

    “After administrating it, we are going to follow up to know if the students are actually learning well. The virtual learning to public schools is like our own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).”

    He noted that virtual reality learning is also to be administered to the student in the private school, but the students have to subscribe. In his words, “We will administer the virtual reality learning for those in the private school for free but it is going to be like E-library setup for them as it is going to be a partnership with TheMap.

    “The way it is going to work is that the private school contracts us to set it up, administer and manage it for them. We would be providing the needed software, gadgets and training for private schools who are interested in the latest technology.”

    He said TheMap has ongoing projects with United Nations in training returnees from Libya and Malaysia. According to him, “We have about 11000 returnees. As those students in private schools pay for membership and subscription, they will be able to get their commission and we get our commission from management.”

    He noted that the company is open to partnership with corporate organisations and individuals to administer the virtual reality learning to schools across the country. According to him, students’ exposed to virtual reality learning, would understand Chemistry and Physics better.

    He said, “Students will enjoy science classes. The virtual learning is not all about learning but a student can also teach beyond their teachers. Students will get access to super knowledge.”

    TheMap.ng is also teaching digital contents creation. “Most of our clients that we create 3-D contents for are foreigners,” Anyanso said. “We are pushing Nigerians into that market where they can create extraordinary digital contents not for social media but digital contents for businesses. It is either they are creating contents for businesses or creating contents to earn foreign exchange.

    “We are trying to push Nigerians into that value chain because it is an untapped value chain in technology beyond E-commerce. This is another way of using technology to build an economy.”

     

     

  • E-payment transactions hit N203.35tr in six months

    Electronic payment (e-pay-ment) transactions worth N203.35 trillion were carried out by banks between January and June, this year, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) half-year e-payment figures  have shown.

    The data, released at the weekend,  showed that the deals occurred through cheques, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Point of Sale (PoS), m-Cash, CentralPay, Remita, Nigeria Interbank Instant Payment (NIBSS) Instant Payment (NIP), mobile money, among other channels.

    The report showed that 3.4 million transactions worth N2.2 trillion occurred through cheques; 504 million transactions worth N49.35 trillion through NIP;  424.5 million  transactions worth N3.23 trillion through ATMs. PoS attracted 187.6 million transactions worth N1.39 trillion, while web transfers attracted 47.9 million deals worth N223.9 billion.

    Others are mobile money, 104.7 million transactions worth N1.9 trillion and Remita’s 21.6 million transactions worth N9.8 trillion.

    On annualised, the data showed that nine million cheques were issued last year compared with 10 million in the preceding year; 875 million ATMs and 295 million PoS transactions, among other data.

    The e-payment powers were conferred on the CBN by Sections 2 (d) and 47 (2) of the CBN Act, 2007, to promote the development of efficient and effective systems for the settlement of transactions, including the development of electronic payment systems; the CBN hereby issue the following Guidelines on Operations of Electronic Payment Channels in Nigeria.

    While pushing for the full use of e-payment, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said for Nigeria to actively play at the world stage, “our payment system must be successfully benchmarked against the global best practices, as in most developed nations of the world.”

    He said e-payment provides safe and efficient mechanisms for making and receiving payments with minimum risks to the CBN, payment service providers and end-users.

    To make the e-payment vision a success, the CBN, in collaboration with key stakeholders in the payments community, developed the National Payments Systems Vision 2020 (NPSV 2020). The NPSV 2020 is a sub-set of the Financial Systems Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020).

     

  • FATE Foundation urges entrepreneurs on integrity

    FATE Foundation has urged entrepreneurs to exhibit high level of integrity to achieve their desired growth and development.

    The advise came during the foundation’s fourth Alumni conference in Lagos.

    The event attracted Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, Slot Systems Limited, Chief Executive Officer, Nnamdi Ezeigbo and Senior Partner, TLcom Capital LLP, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, among others.

    Hamzat, who expressed gratitude to the management of FATE Foundation, said: “The support for SMEs is one with priority focus by the administration in Lagos State as the reality has shown in other growing economies globally, that the SME sector is vital for economic growth. Through the support of SMEs and the private sector, it will help propel expansion of these businesses, which would enable job creation in the state.”

    He urged young entrepreneurs to always maintain integrity and honour, which is key for business growth, hard work in innovating and providing unique experiences for customers and believe in God.

    Ezeigbo said budding entrepreneurs to focus on building a strong brand, which will give them an edge in attracting investment opportunities and support from stakeholders, especially in Nigeria due the competitive landscape and lack of trust faced by snall and medium scale entreprises (SMEs).

    He said: “It is important for entrepreneurs to understand their business capabilities and align it with their business strengths, while he implored them to re-engineer their process in identifying the right people that the business needs to succeed in ensuring synergy of objectives and growth.

    “It is important for businesses to understand their competitor’s strengths and weakness, which will help in developing innovative strategies as well as pre-empting them activities, but also key for every entrepreneur is to build strategic alliances and partnerships as strong networks helps to grow brands and businesses.’’

    FATE Foundation Executive Director Adenike Adeyemi stated that the foundation, founded by Fola Adeola, alongside some individuals, over 19 years ago, has trained over 5,000 persons across 20 states.

    She stated that the conference themed “Innovating for scale” was aimed at empowering its alumni with the right tools to develop strategies and innovative approach in building their business, product, service for their customers and target markets.

     

  • Transcorp retains positive rating

    Transcorp Hotels Plc, the hospitality subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) and owner of the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja and Transcorp Hotels, Calabar, has retained its national scale ratings at A-(NG) and A2(NG) in the long-term and short-term, with the outlook accorded as stable.

    Concurrently, the national scale ratings accorded to the following Issuances affirmed Series 1 N10 billion Fixed Rate Bond: A-(NG), Stable Outlook; Series 2 N9.8 billion Fixed Rate Bond: A-(NG), Stable Outlook.

    According to GCR, the rating reflects Transcorp Hotels ability to maintain its market position as a leading brand in Nigeria’s hospitality industry, supported by the major renovation and facilities upgrade at Transcorp Hilton Abuja (‘THA’) and the subsequent improvement in pricing and occupancy rate. The available support to Transcorp Hotels as a member of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (“Transcorp”), and the partnership with Hilton Worldwide Limited (“Hilton”) is considered positive rating.

    In the report released in August, this year, it stated:  “Following the upgrade at THA and the accompanying repricing of the hotel facilities in fiscal year 2018, revenue improved across all service lines, with rooms and food and beverages rising 26 per cent and 28 per cent. Per management, the company is  exploring other opportunities and add-on services that could be offered to boost earnings going forward.’’

     

     

  • Sterling Bank lists benefits of its SWIFT GPI

    Sterling Bank Plc is now  on SWIFT Global Payments Innovation (GPI).

    In a statement, the bank said SWIFT GPI has improved the customer experience by increasing the speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking of cross-border payments.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Yemi Odubiyi said the introduction of SWIFT GPI has transformed cross border payments for customers.

    ‘’As a key player committed to the digital transformation of the financial sector, the bank has delivered the solution to its customers.

    ‘’Sterling is the first bank in Nigeria and West Africa to achieve SWIFT GPI implementation, as this was driven by our commitment to provide faster, transparent and traceable international payments,’’ Ogunbiyi said.

    He added that other benefits of SWIFT GPI include receiving confirmation message when beneficiary has been paid, ensuring remittance data is unchanged when payment arrives at the destination bank, stop and recall – Allowing payment messages to be immediately stopped in case of fraud or error, no matter where they are in the GPI transaction chain.

    About 40 per cent of SWIFT GPI payments are credited to end-beneficiaries within five minutes, 50 per cent are credited within 30 minutes, and almost 100 per cent within 24 hours.

     

     

  • ANAN raises committee to assess MDAs

    The Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) has embarked on assessment of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for public sector accountability.

    Leading the group’s members during the ‘Walk’ in Abuja, ANAN President Prof.  Muhammad Mainoma said the association had constituted a seven-man committee to assess the MDAs.

    Mainoma said the theme of the 24th Annual Conference of the association held in Abuja was “Nation building sustainable growth: Challenges and prospects”.

    He recalled that ANAN started the concept of “Whistle Blowing‘’ several years ago, saying the association discovered that it must put a system in place to monitor and assess MDAs.

    According to him, we have set up a committee to rank MDAs in order of performance in a bid to check corruption.

    “We want individuals to run away from corruption. Ours is to develop a nation where corruption will not happen. The kind of mechanism we are developing in our association is controlled mechanism. No individual should be in a place to start a project and complete it. Other people must be involved to avoid connivance,” Mainoma said.

    He explained that benchmarking is important in nation-building and also remains a pillar of the ANAN conference. “You cannot build a nation if you do not have love for the nation. You require a lot in terms of organisation. You require some level of capacity building. Knowledge is essential if you are talking about nation building,” he said.

    He called for sincerity of purpose on the part of everyone as all hands must be on deck in building a successful nation.

    “Bench Marking, Love, Organisation, Capacity Building, Sincerity of Purpose (BLOCKS). All that is required is BLOCKS for nation building,” Mainoma said.

    He, however, noted that a citizen must be energetic and healthy before thinking about nation building,

    “We do this ‘Walk’ as a symbolic presentation of all we do daily. You must be healthy to be in a position to help the growth of the economy,” ANAN president said.

     

  • Elumelu seeks $2.5b Japanese investment for Africa

    Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, has asked Japan to invest $2.5 billion representing  five per cent of its $50 billion commitment to Africa.

    Elumelu, African investor and philanthropist, spoke at the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama, Japan.

    “At TICAD 2016 in Kenya, Japan pledged $30 billion for Africa. This year you have generously increased this to $50 billion. If we invested just five per cent in Africa’s new generation of entrepreneurs, following my Foundation’s robust, proven model of getting capital directly to those best placed to catalyse growth and create real impact, we could touch 500,000 lives, across the 54 African countries, broadening markets, facilitating job creation, improving income per capita, and laying the key foundation for political and economic stability”, Elumelu said.

    Read Also: Elumelu challenges global leaders to empower African entrepreneurs

    His statement captured his vision of a relationship between Japan and Africa, which prioritises economic and shared prosperity. He outlined the three key pillars of a bold and transformative structure: investment in infrastructure, partnership with the African private sector, and investment in Africa’s youth.

    He urged Japan to learn from the example of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which champions empowering African entrepreneurs, as the most sustainable means of accelerating the development of Africa. The Tony Elumelu Foundation, in just five years has assisted over 7,500 African entrepreneurs across every African countries, with seed capital, capacity building, mentorship and networking opportunities through its $100 million Entrepreneurship Programme.

  • FMDA holds AGM

    The Financial Markets Association of Nigeria (FMDA) will on Monday September 30, hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.

    In a statement, FMDA said the AGM will be an opportunity to inaugurate its newly elected President, Mrs. Adetoun Dosunmu who was formerly the association’s Vice President. She succeeds Samuel Ocheho, whose tenure has ended.

    The group also announced Ayokunle Ojo as the new Vice President while Ayodeji Abimbola, Dare Otitotju and Chuksnwabuisi Promise were  named executive members.

    It said the new officers of the association will be sworn in at the  FMDA Conference Hall, Moneymart Centre,  Tiamiyu Savage Street, Victoria Island, Lagos at an event to be attended by market leaders and key players in the financial sector.

  • IMF appoints new MD

    Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva has been selected as the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

    Ms Georgieva, who was previously chief executive of the World Bank, becomes the first person from an emerging economy to lead the IMF.

    Ms Georgieva has been appointed for a five-year term, starting on 1 October.

    She will succeed Christine Lagarde, who is leaving to become head of the of the European Central Bank (ECB).

    Read Also: Finance minister appoints Tanko Abdullahi Special Adviser

    Ms Georgieva was the only nominee for the job.

    The 66-year-old economist, the daughter of a civil engineer, studied political economy and sociology at the Karl Marx Higher Institute of Economics in Sofia while Bulgaria was still under communist rule.

    After graduating in 1976, she got her first taste of capitalism in the UK, as a British Council scholar at the London School of Economics.

    Speaking after her selection by the IMF’s executive board, she described herself as “a firm believer in its mandate to help ensure the stability of the global economic and financial system through international co-operation”.