The Nation Newspaper

Category: Money

  • AfDB harps on tax transparency, resource mobilisation

    There is a link between global tax transparency and domestic resource mobilisation, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has said.

       It said the issue was discussed at the sidelines of the Financing for Development conference,  jointly organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UN-DESA, which was attended by the outgoing President of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, eminent ministers and officials from OECD member countries, and observer organisations.

    The meeting sought to explore ways of improving tax transparency, an important driver of domestic resource mobilisation. The panelists at the event stressed the need for governments to give their tax administrators the resources they need to access information flow.

    This would enable them to carry out audits of cross-border transactions. Automatic Exchange of Tax Information across countries was perceived as key in clamping down on tax evasion. There are reportedly more than 3000 tax information exchange agreements in place. These serve as tools for governments to track transfers between financial accounts across the world.

    The meeting heard that the new tax transparency standard, launched in 2014 to aid Automatic Exchange of Information, will allow authorities to access information required to track funds held overseas that were previously unknown. This can boost the tax revenues needed to invest in infrastructure and human capital that is necessary to foster sustainable development.

  • Crude price rises by 12 per cent in Q2, says World Bank

    Crude price rises by 12 per cent in Q2, says World Bank

    The World Bank is nudging up its 2015 forecast for crude oil prices from $53 in April to $57 per barrel after oil prices rose 17 per cent in the April-June quarter, according to the Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook, a quarterly update on the state of the international commodity markets.

    The Bank said energy prices rose 12 per cent in the quarter, with the surge in oil offset by declines in natural gas (down 13 percent) and coal prices (down four percent). However, the Bank said it expects energy prices to average 39 per cent below 2014 levels.

    It said natural gas prices are projected to decline across all three main markets—U.S., Europe, and Asia—and coal prices to fall 17 per cent.

    Excluding energy, the World Bank reported a two per cent decline in prices for the quarter, and forecasts that non-energy prices will average 12 percent below 2014 levels this year.

    “Demand for crude oil was higher than expected in the second quarter. Despite the marginal increase in the price forecast for 2015, large inventories and rising output from OPEC members suggest prices will likely remain weak in the medium-term,” said John Baffes, Senior Economist and lead author of Commodity Markets Outlook.

    Iran’s new nuclear agreement with the US and other leading governments, if ratified, will ease sanctions, including restrictions on oil exports from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    Downside risks to the forecast include higher-than-expected non-OPEC production (supported by falling production costs) and continuing gains in OPEC output.

    The bank said possible upside pressures may come from closure of high-cost operations—the number of operational oil rigs in the US is down 60 percent since its November high, for example—and geopolitical tensions.

    In a special feature assessing the roles played by China and India in global commodity consumption, the Outlook finds that demand from China and, to a lesser extent, India, over the last two decades significantly raised global demand for metals and energy—especially coal—but less so for food commodities.

  • Wema Bank records N20.87b gross earnings

    Wema Bank records N20.87b gross earnings

    Wema Bank’s unaudited financial results for the period ended June 30, 2015, showed that it recorded  gross earnings of N20.87 billion, up from N20.82 billion in first quarter of last year.

    Its Net Interest Income stood at N9.06 billion, down from N9.71 billion in first quarter of last year while Profit Before Tax dropped to N1.17 billion, from N1.70 billion in the first half of 2014.

    The bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Segun Oloketuyi, said: “Given the tough operating environment in the first half of 2015 attributable to economic headwinds, regulatory restrictions and political uncertainty, the bank has been able to sustain its financial performance, albeit, on a lower level compared to the same period in 2014”.

    He said the first quarter of the year was characterized by election-related activities and political maneuverings with limited emphasis on economic matters, while the second quarter was largely characterized by the continued pressure on the currency, the tight monetary policy conditions and the low level supply of petroleum products. All these issues affected consumer discretionary spending and indeed the growth in our Retail volumes.

    He said the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) harmonisation has reduced liquidity with significant impact on   margins from money market investments. “We are confident that as the new administration settles into office, its policy thrust will become clearer, hence, enabling us to continue to make well informed lending decisions mitigate risk exposures and further expand our customer base.”

    The bank’s Chief Finance Officer, Tunde Mabawonku, said: “Operationally, the bank has continued to efficiently deploy its assets. Our loans to deposits ratio has moderated to 57.1 per cent, compared to 57.6 per cent as at December 2014, through a cautious approach to our lending, pending policy clarity from the new administration.

    The liquidity squeeze and tight monetary policy conditions affected our yields from money market investments. Technically, banks can only lend 39 per cent of available resources, as CRR is 31 per cent and liquidity remains 30 per cent. We therefore used the first few months of the financial year to streamline our mix of deposits and funding sources. This has resulted in slightly smaller deposit liabilities volumes but a better cost of funds.

  • Afrinvest boosts clients’ investments with AfriTrack

    Afrinvest Securities Limited (ASL) has launched AfriTrack,  a unique service designed to unlock the value of outstanding and unclaimed entitlements of investments in Nigerian quoted securities, equities and bonds.

    Targeted at High Networth Individuals (HNIs) and corporates, cooperative societies, estate account clients and busy executives, AfriTrack is a combination of ancillary services bundled into a single service, for ease and convenience.

    “It involves reconciliation of client’s shareholding and investments; recovery of all outstanding certificates, bonuses and dividend warrants; recovery of return moneys on unallotted public offer shares; dematerialization of recovered share certificates; revalidation of expired dividend warrants; and consolidation of multiple shareholding accounts and CSCS accounts in multiple houses,” said Charles Egbunonwo, Managing Director of ASL.

    On how to avail AfriTrack services, Egbunonwo said, “simply open a brokerage account with Afrinvest Securities Limited, fill out the AfriTrack application form, supply basic information on your investment portfolio and provide us with a mandate or authorization letter. We would then leverage on our cordial relationship with various company registrars to promptly reconcile actual shareholding against benefits and entitlements received.”

    “AfriTrack services would normally be concluded within a period of one to three months depending on the complexity of the portfolio and peculiar circumstances”, Egbunonwo noted.

    Afrinvest Securities Limited is a broker dealer and dealing member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.  It is a fully-owned subsidiary of Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited, a wealth advisory firm involved in investment banking, securities trading, asset management and investment research with a focus on West Africa.

  • Tony Elumelu Foundation backs private sector economic growth

    The Tony Elumelu Foundation has reiterated its commitment to private sector economic growth and giving the operators a leading role in Africa’s development.

    Africapitalism, the economic philosophy first developed by Tony O. Elumelu, back in 2010, and has been heavily influenced by his long career as a banker, investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

    The Africapitalism Institute and Durham University Business School, co-hosted a day-long academic symposium on the economic philosophy called “Africapitalism” at the Foundation’s headquarters in Lagos.

    The primary goals of Mr. Elumelu’s Africapitalism mission are to promote public policies that facilitate private sector growth, to educate established businesses about how Africapitalist business practices can enhance both profits and prosperity, and to address the specific needs of Africa’s emerging entrepreneurs as the best source of new and inclusive local value creation.

    “The purpose of today’s discussion is to explore the key issues influencing Africapitalism as an economic philosophy from the perspective and scrutiny of academia,” said David Rice, Director of the Africapitalism Institute at the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

    “Years ago, Mr. Elumelu developed this philosophy from the perspective of a practitioner and his role as a banker, businessman, investor, and entrepreneur.  Now his Foundation is supporting the rigorous, independent analysis of Africapitalism’s merits.”

    Several distinguished faculty members from Durham University made presentations to a diverse audience that included scholars, students, business people and investors.

    Participating faculty members included Professor Geoff Moore, Chair of Business Ethics and Deputy Dean; Professor Mehmet Asutay, an expert in Islamic Finance; senior lecturer Dr. Emmanuel Adegbite, who spoke about Africapitalism and corporate governance; and Mark Learnmonth, Professor of Organizational Studies.  The day’s agenda was driven by Dr. Adegbite, who is a member of the Africapitalism Research Project team led by Professor Kenneth Amaeshi, who has appointments at Edinburgh University in Scotland and at Lagos Business School.

  • Sterling rewards 40 winners

    Sterling Bank Plc has rewarded 40 customers in the New Sterling Plus Cash Reward Scheme. The customers were selected via an electronic raffle draw and winners emerged from various parts of the country. Sterling Plus is a new proposition for the retail segment of the market.

    The bank said it is in fulfillment of its promise to reward customer loyalty and encourage a savings culture among Nigerians.

    All customers with a minimum balance of N5, 000 automatically qualify for the draws with 1 ticket while subsequent multiples of N5,000 result in additional tickets. The next draw will come up this week at the Sterling Towers head office of the Bank in Lagos.

    The New Sterling Plus is a hybrid offering with the promise of many goodies and freebies such as free Lenovo smartphones pre-loaded with cool financial and entertainment applications among others for individual customers.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Finance & Strategy, Abubakar Suleiman explained that with some of the bank’s applications, customers are assured of having an exciting experience while fulfilling their banking, entertainment and financial literacy needs.

    He disclosed that the product which can be accessed at any Sterling Bank branch with a minimum balance of N5,000 was the perfect solution for individuals interested in enjoying the benefits of both current and savings account offerings, without the associated cost of running a current account.

    Suleiman stated that customers with the New Sterling Plus will be entitled to a free Lenovo mobile smart phone, free cheque books, free debit cards and free alerts (SMS and e-mails) on their transactions adding  that 20 people would win N50,000 each every week for a period of one year while10 people would win N100,000 monthly. According to him, “two people would win N500,000 quarterly and one lucky individual would win N1 million on special holidays  (as declared by the federal government)”.

    His words: “The product (New Sterling Plus) was developed after an extensive market research to address the need of our existing and potential customers. It is part of the bank’s contribution to boost and encourage savings in the country. The choice of gifts for customers, especially the free smartphones was in consideration of the increasing demand and use of mobile platforms in the Nigerian market”.

  • FCMB is fourth ‘most customer-focused bank’

    KPMG, an international consulting firm, has named First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited as the fourth most customer-focused bank in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

    The report on the ranking showed the bank got the recognition after scoring 74.94 percent. It also came fifth in retail banking with 73.16 percent based on comments by customers surveyed by KPMG.

    This performance, which is coming barely four years after the Bank transformed to become a retail and commercial banking-led lender, is an improvement when compared to 2014 when it occupied the eight and seventh positions in the SMEs segment and retail banking space.

    The rating,  in this year’s report of the KPMG Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey (BICSS), was on the basis of Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), which took into account convenience, product/service offering, excellence, and value for money and customer care. The KPMG BICSS survey was launched in 2007 to heighten the consciousness of service delivery among Nigerian Banks.  The survey has evolved over the years and in 2015, the scope covered over 23,000 retail customers, 2,800 SMEs and 400 corporate/commercial organisations.

    The research highlighted quality of service experience as a major reason customers maintain or switch banking relationships, followed by financial stability before image and reputation. It was also stated that banks that customers perceive as offering high quality online and mobile capabilities recorded high overall customer satisfaction scores. These are factors that contributed to the leap in rating by FCMB.

    The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Ladi Balogun, said: ‘’this is a welcome development’’, adding that, ‘’it shows that we are on the right path towards achieving our goal of attaining the highest levels of customer advocacy in the industry.’’

    He further stated that the upward rating of the Bank, ‘’is a demonstration that the various initiatives we are driving in the areas of service, products offering and operations to enhance customer experience are yielding the desired results and our customers appreciate them’’.

  • FirstBank, Digital Africa Consult host exhibition

    irstBank of Nigeria Limited, has partnered with Digital Africa Global Consult Limited to host the third Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition.

    The event with the theme: “Expanding Africa’s capacity for digital technology” will start in Abuja tomorrow and end on Thursday.

    The Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition, the third, is a gathering of renowned ICT experts to discuss the development of Africa’s ICT sector and proffer solutions to the challenges limiting the continent’s advancement to the point of digital singularity with the rest of the globe.

    The deliberations at event will also address a broad range of topics aimed at broadening Africa’s IT capability.

    In its third edition, Digital Africa reaches out to global markets, connects the industry and enables the digital technology innovations to grow and thrive. The conference also attracts senior-level executives, key decision-makers who are all looking to develop new business partnerships to do business and exchange ideas.

    The Group Executive, Technology & Services, FirstBank, Mr. Abdullahi Ibrahim, FirstBank is committed to driving innovations in technology which have enhanced its products and services. “It is our hope that the third Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition 2015 will throw up new ways of thinking and innovation in banking that will help financial institutions in the country to capture the market,” he added.

     

  • CBN mandates BDCs to provide customers’ BVN

    CBN mandates BDCs to provide customers’ BVN

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed Bureau De Change operators (BDCs) to ensure that their customers obtain their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN).

    The direcive which takes effect from August 1, 2015, is to ensure greater transparency in  transactions of licensed BDCs

    In a circular released yesterday, the said the provision of customers’ BVN “must be included in the Returns to the CBN.”

    The circular, signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Departmeny, CBN, Kevin Amugo, noted that “in the case of corporate customers, the BVN of a Director or an Authorized signatory of the entity must be provided.”

    The CBN also mandated “all licensed BDCs to provide the BVN of all their Directors before 15th August 2015, as failure to meet this requirement may affect their continued participation in the foreign exchange market.”

    Kevin Amugo further threatened a fine of One million Naira (N1,000,000) as penalty for first offenders while subsequent violation may lead to revocation of license.

    According to circular, “BDC operators should please note that any BDCs that fails to provide the required information in its returns, or provides a wrong BVN, would be penalized. First offenders will be required to pay a fine of One Million Naira (N1,000,000), while any subsequent violation of the requirement may lead to the revocation of the operating license of the BDCS.”

    According to the CBN, “the list of all licensed BDCs would be provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria, to the Nigerian Interbank System (NIBBS), to enable the country provide the necessary hardware token that would be used by the BDCs in accessing the NIBSS website”.

  • Ecobank launches MoneyGram outbound transfer

    Ecobank Nigeria has commenced MoneyGram Outbound Money Transfer Service.  The newly launched ‘MoneyGram Naija Sends’ service allows Nigerians to send money abroad through any of about 500 branches of Ecobank Nigeria, while the funds are received in the specified currency in the receiving country.

    A customer, who wishes to use the service, would pay the naira equivalent (plus applicable charges) to Ecobank as an agent of MoneyGram for the foreign currency that would be paid to the specified beneficiary in the destination country.

    The initiative is in line with the recent introduction of the revised guidelines for International Money Transfer Services by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which allows provision of Outbound Money Transfer services in Nigeria.

    Kingsley Umadia , Executive Director, Ecobank Nigeria, lauded the partnership with MoneyGram, saying, it represents a significant milestone  as customers can now send funds to family and friends around the globe in naira which can then be picked up in the currency of the receiving country where available.

    According to him, “this innovative, customer-centric initiative is another way of delivery of excellent service to our customers. As a bank, we will continue to deliver and raise the bar of customers’ satisfaction,” adding that, it would also boost trade across the continent.

    Alex Hoffman, Executive Vice President, Business Development and Global Product, MoneyGram said, “At MoneyGram, we believe in movement, we believe in progress. We believe in never being satisfied with the status quo, we believe in pushing the boundaries to give more to our customers the ability to send out of Nigeria, what we in Nigeria call Naija Sends. This represents our commitment to Movement.”

    He explained that customers of Ecobank can now walk into any of the bank’s branches and send money to the world on MoneyGram. “I will like to express my confidence that Ecobank shall deploy its characteristic excellence in marketing, operations and compliance to this product, and I am sure by December- Ecobank will be the number one MoneyGram send agent in Nigeria, “he said.