The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Citi

  • Citi says economy on recovery path

    Citi Africa Economist, David Cowan, has told clients that following a difficult two years in Nigeria, there are now signs that the economy is starting the slow path to recovery.

    Speaking when Citi hosted a Direct Custody and Clearing (DCC) seminar that brought together market regulators, asset management financial services and advisory sector, legal services, custodians, he said the economic recovery could still be constrained by political developments. He asked: “Where does Nigeria go from here?”

    The event provided opportunity for experts to discuss and explore the Nigerian asset custody ecosystem against global developments, and identify opportunities for success transfer to help meet the needs of investors in the Nigerian capital market sector.

    In his keynote address, CEO Citi Nigeria, Mr Akin Dawodu,  highlighted the firmi’s strengths in the market, including technologically driven solutions designed to meet clients’ needs, in addition to it’s standard that is guaranteed in all markets across the globe.

    Other notable speakers were Mr. Efiok E. Efiok, Head, Investment Management Department at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who gave a presentation on ‘Asset Segregation: A Regulator’s Perspective’.

    Mr. Adeolu Bajomo, Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), presentation was titled ‘The Role of Custodians in Exchange Transactions’. Dr Joe Mekiliuwa, General Manager, IT & Operations at the Central Securities and Clearing Systems PLC (CSCS), presentation was on ‘The Ultimate Custodian’.

    Dr. Timi Austen-Peters, Principal Partner, Austen Peters & Co. spoke on ‘Bankruptcy Remoteness and Custody’ and Mrs. Foluso Ayo-Olaiya, Sales Head, Citi Nigeria Treasury and Trade Services spoke about Citi’s Payment Capabilities for Custody’

    Citi’s DCC business provides securities settlement, clearing and asset servicing solutions globally to broker dealers, custodian banks and infrastructure such as central securities depositories (CSDs), international central securities depositories (ICSDs) and central counterparties as well as services to select institutional investors, including corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities in over 60 markets around the world.

  • KPMG names Citi Most Customer Focused Bank

    KPMG names Citi Most Customer Focused Bank

    Citi has retained its position as the Most Customer Focused Bank in the wholesale banking category, the  KPMG 2016 Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction survey (BICSS) has shown.

    The survey stated that the quality of banking experience remains the reason customers chose to bank with Citi. The KPMG BICSS was first launched in 2007 to heighten the consciousness of service delivery among Nigerian banks.

    This year, KPMG expanded the scope of the survey to 29 locations across the country covering over 28,000 customers across segments. Customer selection in the wholesale banking segment was driven by a need to ensure inclusion of companies in each major business sector. The survey was based on five factors – Convenience; Product/Service; Executional Excellence; Value for Money and Customer Care.

    CEO for Citi Nigeria, Akin Dawodu, said “We are very proud to be recognised, again, as the most customer-centric bank [in Nigeria]. We are constantly looking at ways to improve services for our customers and make their lives easier. Great customer service can set us apart from our competitors and it has been, and will continue to be, one of our top priorities.”

    Total Nigeria also worked with Citi to develop the Electronic Bill Payment Product (E-Billspay) solution, and won the prestigious Adam Smith Best Treasury solution in Africa award with the E-Bills Pay solution.

  • Citi presents markets outlook to Fed Govt

    Citi presents markets outlook to Fed Govt

    Citi International Bank has presented energy markets outlook to Federal Government’s Economic Management Team (EMT) led by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

    The presentation focused on the outlook for Energy markets including oil, gas, power and renewables, in the short, medium and long-term. The Citi delegation was led by Citi Nigeria CEO, Akin Dawodu. Other members of the delegation included Citi’s Global Head of Energy Strategy, Seth Kleinman, who was the lead presenter, Citi’s Chief Economist for Africa, David Cowan and Citi’s Regional Public Sector Head, Mrs. Funmi Ogunlesi.

    The presentation was designed to provide the government top economic managers with the forecast international market prices for oil and other energy sources such as gas.

    Following the presentation, Dawodu said: “It has been a great privilege to provide this key data and information to the top-tiers of government through the EMT as Chaired by His Excellency, the Vice President. We were honoured to have the opportunity and greatly impressed by the levels of engagement and focus of the members of the EMT.

    Kleinman also expressed the bank’s appreciation for the opportunity and stated that it represented a great honour for Citi, to have been have been invited to give this presentation.

    Nigeria remains a key focus country for Citi within Africa and the emerging markets. Osinbajo expressed his appreciation to Citi for the very timely presentation, which he said, would assist in future planning for the economy.

  • Citi Research places ‘buy rating’ on Access, UBA

    Citi Research places ‘buy rating’ on Access, UBA

    Access Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc have been rated “top picks” in Citi Research’s latest report on the state of money deposit banks in Nigeria.

    Top picks in the financial parlance means that the research firm believes that the stocks of the duo will trade drastically higher over the coming months.

    The stocks are expected to significantly outperform the markets over the near-term.

    Consequently, the research firm has placed a target price of N15 per share on Access Bank whose closing price yesterday was N11.54.

    The report noted: “Access Bank, our new top pick – We resume coverage of Access Bank with a buy rating and TP of NGN15/share (from NGN14). With an ETR of 40% and strongest potential earnings growth over the forecast period, Access Bank is the top pick in our universe of Nigerian banks. At a current valuation of 1.02x its 2013E BVPS and 5.0x its 2014E EPS, we believe that the market is overly discounting its ability to build its returns to at least 21.5% by 2017E (from 19.1% at FY12) and grow its share of system profits to 11% of total by 2017 (from 8% in FY12).”

    For UBA, another top pick of the research firm, it noted: “We raise our 2013, 2014 and 2015 EPS forecasts by 31%, 18% and 20%. Following our earnings upgrades, we raise our fair value estimate for UBA to NGN11/share (from NGN8.50). UBA standouts as the only Tier 1 bank that has an asset share (11%) higher than its profit share (10%). We believe that UBA has the potential to build-out its profit share to 13% of total by 2017 by further leveraging its balance sheet. Its 1Q13 LDR was only 33%.”

    Citi Research however, downgraded Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc and Skye Bank Plc by lowering its recommendation to neutral on the two lenders.

    ”GTB, best in class, but fairly valued — We make no changes to our earnings estimates and TP for GTB. However, we lower our recommendation to Neutral (from Buy) on valuation grounds.”

    On Skye Bank, which it downgraded to neutral, the research firm said: “ Our earnings estimates are unchanged. But we lower our TP to NGN5/share (from NGN9) to reflect the likelihood of a shareholder approved capital increase of up to 50% of its current equity and M&A uncertainty. After the cut to our TP for Skye, we lower our recommendation to Neutral (from Buy),” the report showed.

    On Zenith Bank and First Bank, the reports noted:  ”Zenith Bank, best risk/ return balance —We make no changes to our earnings estimates, TP or Buy recommendation for Zenith Bank. We think Zenith has the best balance between a well-capitalised (31% CAR) and liquid (55% LDR) balance sheet.”

    On First Bank long-term play, it reduced its “2013, 2014 and 2015 EPS forecasts by 5%, 9% and 10%. Following our earnings downgrades, we lower our fair value estimate for FBN to NGN22/share (from NGN24). With 27% share of system savings deposits, First Bank is an attractive long-term play on financial inclusion in Nigeria. We continue to rate the stock Buy.”

  • Fidelity Bank wants Citi to raise $100m

    Fidelity Bank wants Citi to raise $100m

    … To bolster lending capacity

    Fidelity Bank has mandated Citi to raise $100 million via a two-year loan from the international debt market, to help increase its foreign currency lending capacity, a senior executive told Reuters on Friday.

    Head of Strategy, Francis Ikenga, said Citi was in the debt market to secure the loan through a book building process and that yield on the paper will be determined at the end of the transaction.

    Ikenga said Fidelity had seen an increase in demand for foreign currency loans from all sectors of Nigeria’s economy especially within the oil and gas and telecom sectors.