The Nation Newspaper

Tag: cbn

  • Interswitch creates holding company to drive regional and international growth

    Interswitch creates holding company to drive regional and international growth

    Interswitch, a pan-African integrated payment processing and transaction switching company, has announced the spin-off, of two of its core divisions: Verve International (“Verve”) and Switching and Processing, as separate, autonomous businesses.

    In a statement by the Interswitch, the company said the rationale for separation is driven by the company’s strategy to orchestrate the next stage of sustainable growth through empowering the various line businesses to broaden and deepen their solution and service offerings to better serve their customers across Africa.

    Separation, they stressed, will enable Verve to leverage, to the maximum extent, its recent strategic alliance with the ‘Discover’ network, providing new business opportunities in over 185 countries around the world.

    The change also brings Interswitch’s corporate structure into line with the guidelines of the Payment Systems Vision 2020 of the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”), Verve International and Interswitch Switching and Processing to have separate management teams.

    Verve International is to be led by Mr. Charles Ifedi, while Interswitch Switching and Processing will be managed by Mr. Akeem Lawal.

    Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch Transnational Holdings commented: “It has always been our desire to evolve into an integrated payments holding business where the various parts of the business are driven to deepen and broaden their relationships with their various customers by creating innovative products and services of real value. Creating the right governance structure to herald this new phase of sustainable growth has been the focus of the board and management in the last few months. I am elated that we have successfully completed this separation, which took effect from April 1st 2013.”

  • Truck crashes into CBN

    Truck crashes into CBN

    An articulate vehicle on Friday crashed into the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Jos. The vehicle with registration EPL 756 XD crashed into the CBN building at 6:30 am and destroyed over 70 per cent of its goods. The vehicle was packed on the road side leading to the CBN building by the Plateau Teaching Hospital when it rolled and crashed into the building. An eyewitness said the driver was taking sleeping in the vehicle when the incident occurred and all his efforts to ignite the vehicle proved abortive. The driver lost control as the steering and breaking system malfunctioned.

  • Experts react to move by CBN to license more banks

    One of the major developments in the money market this week was the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it would license more banks.

    Mr Ugochukwu Okoroafor, the Head of Corporate Communications of CBN, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) during the week.

    He said that more banks would be licensed provided they met the requirements.

    He said that two banks, Rand Merchant Bank and First Security Discount House Ltd., had just been licensed with a capital base of N15 billion each.

    Also during the week, the CBN said it had embarked on fresh public sensitisation to aid the cashless policy expected to commence in Abuja and five other states in July.

    The five states are Ogun, Anambra, Abia, Kano and Rivers.

    Okoroafor told NAN that it was part of the apex bank’s commitment to ensure that the cashless policy achieved its purpose.

    He said that the CBN had started direct stakeholders’ engagement to enhance public awareness about the cashless policy.

    Mr Wole Olowu, General Manager, True Bond Micro Finance Bank Ltd., advised that the CBN should concentrate more on supervision of existing banks than granting licence to new ones.

    Olowu said that it was lack of effective supervision that led to the collapse of the banking sector in 2008.

    He described steps being taken by the CBN to organise public awareness campaigns on the cashless policy as a welcome development.

    “Most people, especially the trader, do not understand and know how to operate the Point of Sale Machines (PoS),’’ he said.

    According to Olowu, this is having an adverse effect on the cashless policy.

    Mr Ayodeji Fagbenle, General Manager, Cash Craft Assets Management Ltd., said that there was nothing wrong in granting license to more banks.

    Fagbenle said that licensing more banks would create healthy competition in the financial sector.

    He advised the apex bank to improve on monitoring and supervising the banks through capacity building of their workers.

    Fagbenle suggested that the CBN should also work on challenges of inter-connectivity among the banks.

    “If the network problem is not improved, automatically the cashless policy would not achieve a meaningful result in the other five states and Abuja, “ he said.

  • CBN to grant licence to more banks

    CBN to grant licence to more banks

    The Central Bank of Nigeria on Wednesday said it would continue to grant operating licence to more banks.

    The CBN Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Okoroafor Ugochukwu, made this known in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    Ugochukwu said that CBN had granted licence to two merchant banks, Rand Merchant Bank and First Security Discount House, to start operation.

    “These banks had been successfully processed and found to qualify for licence, “ he said.

    The apex bank spokesman said that more banks would be granted licence once they met the CBN requirements.

    According to him, the minimum capital base for merchant bank is N15 billion.

    “As regard establishment of banks in the rural areas, the apex bank would provide conducive environment for banks to operate, “ Ugochukwu said.

    He, however, said the market forces of demand and supply would determine their operation in rural areas.

     

  • Consolidated supervision: Banks’ examiners for training

    Consolidated supervision: Banks’ examiners for training

    To actualise the objectives of consolidated supervision, the training of banks’ examiners will soon begin, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has said.

    The training will be undertaken by the Financial Regulatory Service Sector Commission (FRSSC) comprising the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and National Pension Commission (PenCom).

    Director, Banking Supervision, NDIC, AdedapoAdeleke, told The Nation that the framework for the implementation of the scheme is in the pipeline.

    The regulators, he said, had agreed to come up with examiners who will be trained on how to implement the guidelines.

    He said the training of the examiners was crucial to the implementation of the guidelines on consolidated supervision, adding that each regulator would provide examiners to meet the needs of its sector.

    Adeleke said the CBN was at the vanguard of driving the initiative for its overall success. He said consolidated supervision would help in diagnosing sectoral problems, monitoring them, and providingcommon and proactive solutions.

    NDIC, he said, was working with the CBN to ensure proper supervision of the banks and also ensure that the industry’s problem does not spill over to other arms of the financial services’sector.

    He said: “We are working with other regulatory bodies to foster the growth of the consolidated supervision project.  We found out that there are banks that have subsidiaries that are not in the mainstream banking. This would hinder the supervision of the industry. Though no date has been fixed for the training of such examiner, all the regulators will have their own examiners.

    “Different areas in the financial service system require supervision. We have set up a consolidate supervision such that any bank, insurance company, stock broking firm, quoted companies, among others, that are exposed to risk would be quickly checked. The idea aimed at preventing crisis from snowballing in the financial system.”

    This is one of the ways of preventing a re-occurrence of the crisis that rocked the capital market and the banking industry in 2008. “Consolidated supervision would help in seeing, checking, and proffering solutions to problems in each sector.  Its framework would be executed by the examiners trained by the regulators,” he explained.

    Adeleke said the FRSSC would be able to intervene in any part of the financial services sector that is having problem, without going through the National Assembly for solutions. He said when this happens, the growth of the financial service sector and the economy would be fast-tracked.

    He said the commission would do a good job, stressing that it would not get involved in politics.

    On Savannah Bank, Adeleke said the NDIC does not have much role to play on re-opening the bank, arguing that CBN has the capacity to determine the fate of the bank.

    “With respect to the issue of Savannah Bank, NDIC cannot pay its depositors. CBN is still persuading the bank to pay the necessary fund before it can reopen for business,” he said.

     

  • Fed Govt to get N200b Cooperative Fund trapped in CBN

    Fed Govt to get N200b Cooperative Fund trapped in CBN

    Federal Government yesterday announced plans to access the N200billion Cooperative Societies Fund trapped in the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 10 years ago.

    The government said the fund would be used to create new jobs and empower small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) thereby reducing reliance on government for jobs.

    Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values, Dr. (Mrs) Sarah Jibril, made the disclosure in an interview with journalists during the inauguration of the first batch of National Youth Vanguards on Ethics and Values and public presentation of the Code of Conduct handbook.

    The programme is an initiative of the Centre for the Promotion of Ethics and Values, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

    She said arrangement to execute this will take off soon at the zonal, state and local government levels.

    This, she said, would enable people to establish small and medium scale businesses – thereby reducing the over reliance on the government for the provision of jobs.

    The presidential aide noted that government cannot be “talking to people and preaching ethics and values on empty pockets and empty stomachs.” She insisted that the government must be accountable to the citizens through economic empowerment.

    She said: “The CBN has been holding the over N200 billion because we have not been organised and have not been able to take off.  The CBN is however, now happy that Nigerians were able to organise themselves for this exercise.

  • Why telecos can’t lead mobile money, by CBN

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has explained why it is unable to adopt a telco-led approach in the execution of mobile money services.

    CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said regulation of the telecoms sector was not within the bank’s control, making it difficult to guide mobile money operations under the telco-led model being advocated by telecoms operators.

    Sanusi, who spoke at the risk management conference in Lagos, said the risks in mobile money operations were high, regulation has to be implemented.

    He said the banking watchdog does not control what the telcos are doing, unlike in the bank-led model where there are guidelines.

    Telecoms companies have been calling on the CBN to allow them to participate in the regulation of the mobile money subsector, one of the services provided by banks in support of the cashless banking initiative.

    Speaking at a seminar in Lagos, Tunde Kuponiyi, Globacom’s Director, Telebanking Unit, said the regime of mobile money regulation, which is bank-driven, is not friendly to telecoms companies, which provide the mobile payment platform. He said though there was a lot that telecoms companies could contribute in a cash-less economy, their mandate was limited.

    Kuponiyi explained that since the mobile payments business is 90 per cent dependent on the mobile industry, it was unfair that the mobile networks are prevented from advertising their various mobile payment products, which are the foundation on which the bank products operate.

    “From the customer’s mobile phone, to the mobile payments system and feedback to the mobile phone, the mobile payment transaction utilises mostly mobile resources, makes use of mobile time and is supported largely by mobile engineers, but unfortunately, the CBN has restricted telecom companies from advertising in the mobile payments space,” he said.

    He stressed the need for telecoms companies to be allowed to speak on the capabilities of their networks, the quality of user experience and the choice of mobile payment services available on their networks.

    He lamented that the passive role to which the telecoms companies have been compelled to play has led to the slow growth of the mobile payment sub sector.

    “It is roughly a year since the first mobile money went live and approaching a year since cash-less economy came into operation. Meanwhile, none of the individual players can boast of having more than 10,000 active subscribers,” he said.

    The CBN has said infrastructure will be a challenge in implementing mobile money and is working towards improving on that, although that responsibility is outside its powers.

    Sanusi had met with the Minister of Communication Technology and other stakeholders, to deliberate on infrastructure.

  • Freedom; Chimamanda’s Americanah; CBN’s MPR and the rest of us

    Thank God for the successful efforts to secure the release of the Rhodes Vivours. We must thank God even as we pray earnestly for the release of all other kidnap victims and a final full stop to this evil method of extortion.

    The wars against the Boko Haram, indigenes in Plateau and farmers on the North-South cattle route go on even as the rest of Nigeria goes on. I read Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah. It is a long good read, covering a wide range of incidents and sites. I was on the Third Mainland Bridge when it came up in the book. Perhaps you will find yourself ‘live action’ in places and scenes mentioned including Obalende, my old haunt. The book discusses race, confirming it is a non-issue in Nigeria, and love- that worldwide problem engaging every reader in one scenario or another. You will find a lot of ‘been-there-done-that’ as my daughter taught me to say.

    It is amazing in love the same action can be so contrastingly cruel and kind, common and individual and cause so much gain and pain, but we all know that anyway. That is not a reason not to read the book. It is nice knowing you are not alone in your gains and pains from love. And you will learn a lot about women’s hair, beautiful and otherwise. In my clinic I tell my patients that small cysts seen on ultrasound are normal signs of womanhood and that without those cysts the women would be men. They immediately cheer-up. Not one of them has wanted to be a man in spite of the dedicated hours regularly spent weave-on-ing. Amazing. This book answers the unasked question ‘why weave-on?’ and many more ‘whys’.

    Meanwhile the inter-bank interest rate MPR, has been kept by the award winning CBN at 12% making bank loans 21-25% to ‘fight inflation’. What inflation? The one in the pockets of millions of Nigerians or the banks statistics caused by corruption? The commercial banks could cut their own additional 10-15% interest even if CBN insists on 12% but they will not –greed. Meanwhile they make billions! How? Who are they doing business with? They screw us out of our money with COT, cheque, ATM and a myriad of other financial burdens invented in the boardrooms by financial wiz kids seeking bonuses. What do Nigerian banks pay as bankers bonuses? The trouble with being a Nigerian when so many are stealing so much is that the average person suffers so much to service the bankers’ greed. In spite of our oil, Nigerians have the highest interest rates loans in the world and the highest energy costs from generators and fuel from imports while government demonstrated a pathological failure to fix refineries –Corruption, Incompetence, Negligence and Selfishness-CINS.

    Most middle class Nigerians could have afforded to buy a new car annually from what they are forced to spend on power substitution at home and in the office during the last 25 years. So the prohibitive cost of doing business through loans, supplying power and corruption are key problems facing every business and entrepreneur. Today we face political whirlwinds among governors seeking dominance at the Governors’ Forum. Who does not know that 19 is democratically more than 16? We face Presidential pronouncements on incumbency and lack of vacancies in Aso Rock made by proxy through political attack dogs and self-appointed ‘Ministers for Presidential Defence’. We face ex-presidents who for many observers were mega-failures in areas of job creation infrastructure like power, road and rail networks, bringing interest rates down, improving the naira value and in human rights particularly during elections and odiously in Odi. Why did the naira fall further even after the dark days of Buhari, Babangida Abacha when it ended at N88 to $1 under Abacha? These pontificating ex-presidents, including ‘civilian/military’ presidents like Obasanjo with eight years of failed hope and disappointing prosperity under their agbadas, are talking boldly of the failings of an incumbent president who appears to be struggling through a multiple minefield laid by the same past governments’ failures in power, political and electric and economic and social responsibility.

    Why did they, our ‘Failed Past Presidents’, not improve education to make Nigerian students them fully employable with easy access to business advice and normal worldwide acceptable interest rates on loans? The problems today were problems created deliberately, ignorantly or negligently for years.  The Nigerian adult now knows that there was money to service education but it was government policy to starve education –exposed by an unappreciated ASUU.  Parents and students preferred a ‘Let My Children Go Ignorantly Into The Future’ policy to supporting ASUU’s fight for better conditions. For years government has manipulated the education situation to make it appear that ASUU was the cause of the poor education situation, when ASUU was fighting for quality-a losing battle against ‘Acada-hating politicians in power’. Ask Jubril Aminu’s opinion. Has he published his memoirs of ‘A Minister of Education in an Ignorant State’ yet?

    On Sunday we followed Pope Francis’s request to all 1+billion Catholics to join him at 5pm to pray among other things for the poor. A person born poor is at an unfair disadvantage but has ignored rights to make demands on government to cross the poverty line- $1 or $2 a day. Government has a failed responsibility to rescue the poor who are getting wiser and more violent.

  • Sanusi wins Africa Central Bank governor award

    Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has been conferred with the 2013 Central Bank Governor of the year award.

    This is contained in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by the Director of Communications, CBN, Ugochukwu Okoroafor, in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria, quoting the statement reports that the award was conferred on Sanusi at the seventh African Banker Awards gala dinner held on Wednesday at the Taj Palace, Marrakech, Morocco.

    The statement said the Publisher, African Banker, Omar Ben Yedder, said the award committee recognised Sanusi’s outstanding work in the past years in sustaining banking reforms in Nigeria.

    The statement commended Sanusi for ensuring stability in macro economy, protecting the independence of the central bank and enhancing many aspects of Nigerian banking and adoption of new technologies for financial inclusion.

    It also lauded the governor for his continuous modernization and more transparent disclosures, including adopting higher reporting standards for banks.

    It said the latter reforms were having an impact not only on the banking industry but on the country as a whole.

    The statement said that Sanusi had been continuously singled out by many of his banking peers, international bankers, investors and development partners as a reformist governor with integrity, candour, energy and exceptional courage.

    “There is no doubt that Africa’s improved reputation today is in large part owed to the achievements of leaders like you.

    “Our event partners wholeheartedly cherish your exceptional contribution to the economic and social development of the African continent.”

     

  • CBN boss Sanusi is Governor of the Year

    CBN boss Sanusi is Governor of the Year

    Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was yesterday awarded the accolade of Central Bank Governor of the Year, by the African Banker Awards.

    The award, which has now been won thrice by Sanusi, according to a statement, was in recognition of his outstanding work in sustaining banking reforms.

    The statement noted that Sanusi has also “ensured macroeconomic stability, protected the independence of the Central Bank and enhanced many aspects of the Nigerian Banking including adoption of new technologies for financial inclusion; continuous modernisation and more transparent disclosures.”

    The Award Committee also said Sanusi “ has been continuously singled out by many of your central banking peers, international bankers, investors and development partners as a reformist governor with integrity, candour, energy and exceptional courage.

    “There is no doubt that Africa’s improved reputation today is in large part owed to the achievements of leaders like you, and IC Publications as well as our event partners wholeheartedly cherish your exceptional contribution to the economic development of the African continent.”

    Sanusi was recently awarded the accolade of Central Bank Governor of the Year, Sub-Saharan Africa, by the global business magazine, Emerging Markets.

    The African Banker Awards now in its 7th edition, are designed to promote entrepreneurial excellence and world-class practices in banking and finance in Africa. They honour achievements in financial institutions and individuals who have contributed significantly to the reform, modernaisation and expansion of the continent’s banking and financial system.