All Posts in "Banking & Finance"

Oando Plc enters into settlement with SEC

By admin

 

Oando Plc has entered into a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the overriding interest of the shareholders of the Company and the capital market.

This was contained in a Circular released by the SEC in Abuja Monday and signed by the Management of the Commission.

According to the Circular, the company has reached a settlement with the Commission on the following terms amongst others: Immediate withdrawal of all legal actions filed by the Company and all affected directors; Payment of all monetary penalties stipulated in the Commission’s letter of May 31, 2019; and an undertaking by the Company to implement corporate governance improvements.

Part of the terms also requires the submission by the Company of quarterly reports on its compliance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement; the Investments and Securities Act, 2007; the SEC Rules and Regulations; the National Code of Corporate Governance and the SEC Guidelines to the Code of Corporate Governance.

According to the SEC, “Pursuant to the powers conferred on the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) by the Investments and Securities Act 2007, and the Rules and Regulations made pursuant thereto, the Commission on Thursday, July 15, 2021, entered into a Settlement with Oando Plc (the Company). 

“The Commission in its letter to the Company dated May 31, 2019, gave certain directives and imposed sanctions on the Company, following investigations conducted pursuant to two petitions filed with the Commission in 2017.

“The Company and some of its affected directors had challenged the said directives in a series of suits commenced at the Federal High Court. However, the Company subsequently approached the Commission for a settlement of the matter, and both parties have now agreed to settle in consideration of the impact that a further prolonged period of litigation would have on the Company’s shareholders and the value of their investments as well as remedial measures to be put in place by the Company in enhancing its corporate governance practices and strengthening its internal control environment

The Commission further reiterates its commitment to ensuring the fairness, transparency and integrity of the capital market, while upholding its mandate to protect investors.

Patoma Admin by — July 19, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
Federal Inland Revenue Service generates N650bn

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

In a renewed efforts to take in money for the government  the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has generated N650 billion in June 2021.

Executive Chairman of FIRS, Mr Muhammad Nami, in a statement, today, as the the highest revenue realized in a single month, since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

According to him, “This feat was achieved as a result of the efficiency and effectiveness of the TaxProMax Solution, notwithstanding the challenges and resistance faced in the early stages of its adoption, and the downturn orchestrated by slow economic recovery”.

Nami recalled that as part of its efforts at modernizing tax administration in the country, the FIRS recently introduced the Tax Administration Solution (TaxProMax) for ease of tax compliance.

He stated, “The Solution “enables seamless registration, filing, payment of taxes and automatic credit of withholding tax as well as other credits to the Taxpayer’s accounts, among other features. It also provides a single-view to Taxpayers for all transactions with the Service.”

The TaxProMax platform, which took off on 7th June 2021, is a channel for filing Naira-denominated tax returns in the country.

Nami reminded taxpayers of the one-off, one-month extension granted earlier this month for the filing of Company Income Tax returns by taxpayers with December 31, 2020 accounting year-end whose statutory tax returns were due not later than 30th June 2021.
He urged them to take advantage of the extension to file up to the 31st July 2021.

END

Patoma Admin by — July 7, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
World Bank finances $4 bn Covid-19 vaccine for 50 countries

By Favour Nnabugwu

The World Bank has disclosed that it has purchase  Covid-19 vaccine to the tune of  $4 billion to Nigeria and 50 other developing countries, half of which are in Africa.

Full details of World Bank vaccine operations are posted on our vaccine operations portal, with regular updates. The $4 billion is supporting COVID-19 are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Comoros, the Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini and Ethiopia.

The other are: The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, the Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger and Pakistan.

Others include: Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, São Tomé e Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Ukraine, Yemen, and Zambia.

More than half of the financing comes from the International Development Association (IDA), the Bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries, and is on grant or highly concessional terms.

This financing is part of the Bank’s commitment to help low- and middle-income countries acquire and distribute vaccines and strengthen their health systems.

The World Bank reiterated its call to governments, pharmaceutical companies, and organizations involved in vaccine procurement and delivery to help increase transparency and build greater public information regarding vaccine contracts, options and agreements; vaccine financing and delivery agreements; and doses delivered and future delivery plans.

It asked those countries anticipating excess vaccine supplies in the coming months to release their surplus doses and options as soon as possible, in a transparent manner, to developing countries with adequate distribution plans in place.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Group has approved more than $150 billion to fight the health, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic. Since April 2020, the Bank has scaled up its financing by over 50 percent, helping more than 100 countries meet emergency health needs, strengthen pandemic preparedness, while also supporting countries as they protect the poor and jobs, and jump starting a climate-friendly recovery.

“The World Bank is helping developing countries in every region of the world with vaccine purchase and rollout,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank Managing Director of Operations. “Significant challenges still remain regarding vaccine deployment and hesitancy. We are taking action on all fronts to tackle these challenges, working in solidarity with international and regional partners to expedite doses to as many people as possible and to enhance disease surveillance, preparedness, and response.”

The Bank’s vaccine finance package is designed to be flexible. It can be used by countries to acquire doses through COVAX, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) or other sources.

It also finances vaccine deployment and health system strengthening, such as vaccine cold-chains, training health workers, data and information systems, and communications and outreach campaigns to key stakeholders which are crucial to ensure vaccination acceptance.

The Bank has aligned its eligibility criteria for COVID-19 vaccines with the revised eligibility criteria of COVAX and other multilateral partners.

The World Bank is partnering with the African Union and the World Bank-supported Africa Center for Disease Control to support AVATT initiative with resources to allow countries to purchase and deploy vaccines for up to 400 million people across Africa.

The Bank is also convening a task force with the IMF, WHO, WTO, and other partners to track, coordinate, and advance delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries.

The Bank continues to work with governments and partners (UNICEF, the Global Fund, WHO, and GAVI) to assess the readiness of over 140 developing countries to deploy vaccines. Countries have made good progress since the publication of the effort’s first report.

Latest findings show that 95 percent of countries have developed national vaccination plans, 79 percent have safety measures in place, and 82 percent have prioritizations of populations to receive the vaccine.

However, only 59 percent have developed plans to train the large number of vaccinators needed and less than half have a plan in place to generate public confidence, trust, and demand for COVID-19 vaccines.

Patoma Admin by — July 1, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
NDIC commences payment to depositors of 14 closed bank

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) will commence payment of liquidation dividends to uninsured depositors, creditors and shareholders of 14 closed banks.

The Director, Communication and Public Affairs Department, Bashir Nuhu, the NDIC stated that while stakeholders of eight closed banks are to receive their first round of liquidation dividend payments, those of the other six are to be paid additional sums due to them as part of their liquidation dividends.

The listed banks are: City Express Bank, All States Trust Bank, Allied Bank, Commerce Bank, North South Bank, Cooperative and Commerce Bank and Nigeria Merchant Bank.

Others are Hilltop MFB, Olomoyoyo MFB, Evo MFB, Ngwegwe MFB, Bekwarra MFB, Argungu MFB and Edet MFB
.
The corporation advised eligible stakeholders of the banks to visit the Corporation’s offices nationwide for the verification of their claims or do so on the Corporation’s website.

The NDIC has also commenced verification of depositors of 22 MFBs whose operating licences were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The verification exercise is geared towards payment of insured sums to eligible depositors.

Depositors of the affected MFBs have been advised to visit the closed banks’ addresses where their claims would be verified by the NDIC’s officials.

 

Patoma Admin by — June 27, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
SEC boosts CMOs with new finance principles

By Favour Nnabugwu

The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, at weekend, said it has adopted the Nigerian Sustainable Finance Principles, NSFP, as developed by the Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee, FSRCC, for the capital market.

The Commission stated that the new principles would lead to a resilient, competitive and sustainable capital market.
This was contained in a statement released by the Commission in Abuja.

According to the regulator, the objectives of the guidelines on NSFP are to: Stimulate a resilient, competitive and sustainable capital market that promotes economic development and improves the quality of life for all; Improve corporate governance practices to ensure that the participants in the capital market operate in a transparent and sustainable manner; Nurture an environment that facilitates job creation and diversity, women empowerment, human rights protection, access to affordable capital market products by the economically less privileged and contribute to efforts aimed at reducing global warming and other environmental footprints resulting from our activities and those of our stakeholders.

The Commission said the guidelines and approach are principles based and therefore do not prescribe specific implementation requirements but however noted that these principles should be applied by each regulated entity in a manner that fits individual mandates, core values, and enterprise risk management framework.

SEC explained that reporting enhances companies’ accountability for the effects of their social impacts which in turn fosters social responsibility in organizations and therefore enhances trust, while facilitating shared values on which to build a more cohesive society, adding that “Consequently, regulated entities must report regularly on the extent to which they apply these principles.

Consequently, the adoption of financial sustainability principles and its reporting are vital steps towards achieving a sustainable global economy”.

SEC added: “The Nigerian Capital Market plays a major role in the industrialization and economic development of Nigeria.

However the pursuance of these key objectives involves activities that give rise to a range of challenges including air and water pollution, climate change, water and natural resource scarcity, environmental degradation, growing population density and poverty.

“These externalities and other social impacts affect not only businesses but also the communities where they operate. Sustainable finance principles are guidelines developed to help address the impact of these externalities, ensure long term economic growth while safeguarding the environment and society.

“The primary objective is to achieve a balance in the pursuit of economic prosperity while ensuring environmental protection and social development. To this end, the principles help create an economic, environmental and social organization that ensures and improves economic efficiency, prosperity, and sustained economic competitiveness while contributing to protecting and restoring ecological systems, enhancing cultural diversity and social well-being.

“In the financial services industry, there is an increasing realization that sustainable practices have a potential to save costs, grow revenues, reduce reputational and legal risks, as well as drive the development of human capital and improve access to finance”.

SEC continued: “In implementing these principles, regulated entities are expected to: Establish the standards for their organization and be committed to it: They are to set the pace for the integration of the Principles into their organizational culture, such that the Board and Management are committed to sustainable finance and ensuring successful implementation.

The entity’s commitment to the Principles should be demonstrated through policies and decisions and also ensure their supervised organizations do the same.
“They are also to establish sustainable operations approach by having a set of procedures that detail how Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and related issues are managed and aligned with existing internal decision-making processes

“Lastly, they are to ensure proper reporting: Regulated entities should ensure that appropriate reports are prepared detailing their progress and performance regarding their commitment to ESG guidelines”.
Regulated entities include Capital Market Operators, Trade Groups, Self-Regulated Organizations and Capital Trade Points.

Patoma Admin by — May 23, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
CBN reduces processing time for reversal of failed ATM, POS & Web transaction to be immediate from June 8, 2021

By Favour Nnabugwu

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed its guidelines for the operation of electronic payment channels in the country and has directed banks and payment service providers to resolve customers’ chargeback complaints on electronic channels within 24:hours from 8th June 2020.

The apex bank stated this in a circular issued on Sunday and endorsed by Musa I. Jimoh, its Director of Payments System Management.

According to the directive, addressed to all banks and payment service providers, the reversal of failed on-us ATM transactions (failed transactions when customers use their cards on their bank’s ATMs) shall be immediate from the current timeline of 3 days.

However, in a situation where an instant reversal fails because of technical issues of system glitches, the timeline for manual reversal shall not be more than 24 hours.

Similarly, the timeline for the reversals of failed not-on-us ATM transactions (failed transactions when customers use their cards on other banks’ ATMs) shall not exceed 48 hours from the current 3 to 5 days.

The central bank added that refunds on disputed/failed POS/Web transactions shall be effected within 48 hours from current 5 days.

“All Switches are to adjust the chargeback cycle in their dispute resolution systems to 24 hours from 72 hours.

“All Acquirer-initiated refunds shall henceforth be initiated by all banks within 48 hours.

“Processors are to provide daily settlement reports latest 8.am on T+1 basis.

“NIBSS shall send daily reports on reversals to processors on or before 10pm each day,” the document read in part.

The CBN also ordered banks in the country to clear their backlogs of all ATM refunds within one week and within two weeks for POS & Web customers’ refunds respectively with effect from 8th June 2020.

Patoma Admin by — May 4, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
48 corps members win N16.5m in Unity Bank challenge

By Favour Nnabugwu

Forty-eight members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, won cash prizes totalling N16.5million in the Unity Bank’s business plan competition, Corpreneurship Challenge.

The winners emerged during the final business pitch of the contest, which took place simultaneously across four orientation camps in Lagos, Ogun, Edo, and FCT, according to a statement issued by the NYSC Director, Press and Public Relations, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi.

The contestants’ business plans, which ranged from agriculture, craft and fashion design; education, to shoemaking, were assessed on originality, marketability, the future employability potential of the product and knowledge of the business.

Speaking during the a virtual interaction with the winners in Abuja, the Unity Bank’s Managing Director, Mrs Tomi Shomefun, said the competition was to encourage more youths with clear entrepreneurial intentions to expand or start profitable ventures.

She, however, revealed that the bank would expand the initiative to six more locations viz; Akwa-Ibom, Kano, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Enugu and Osun States.

According to her, “The grants are not a loan and we want the money to be directed towards profitable ventures. However, never despise the days of little beginning, but hope for greater heights. Take the seed grant that has been given to you to develop yourselves and the society”

Shomefun said, “We started Corpreneurship in 2019, with a launch in Lagos and in three other states which included Edo, Ogun, and Abuja. Today, we are expanding it to six additional locations; Akwa-Ibom, Kano, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Enugu and Osun States.”

In his remarks, the NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, said the initiative would create opportunities for self employment and wealth creation and also reduce the increasing number of unemployed graduate youths.

He added that salaried jobs are scarcely available, urged the corps members to be determined, focused and avoid cutting corners.

Ibrahim further said, “My appeal to you is to be determined, remain focused and fan into flame the training that you have acquired for your empowerment, as it would later translate to societal development,” he said.

Also, the Director, Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme, Mr Hilary Nasamu, advised the corps beneficiaries to adhere strictly to the template of their business proposals.

Nasamu said the scheme would continue to monitor their progress on a quarterly basis, urging them to strive to have two employees within the first eighteen months and four employees within the first two years.

“This is a grant without interest. You must continue to dedicate yourselves to this opportunity and don’t forget to seek experts’ advise at all times,” he added.

Patoma Admin by — May 3, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
FG to recover N5.2trn debt owe by individuals, companies

By Favour Nnabugwu
The Federal Government has conclude all plan to recover N5.2 trillion debt owed by some individuals and firms, following the approval of the second phase of the Project Lighthouse.
The project was approved by the VP Yemi Osinbajo-led Federal Executive Council on Wednesday. This was confirmed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, in a television interview after the council met.
The Project Lighthouse is a data engine that collects, integrates and analyzes data from revenue-generating agencies in order to create insightful information for improved decision-making.
 
It has brought together data from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Corporate Affairs Commission, as well as data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, in one central point.
Ahmed explained that the contract sum for the project awarded to Charterhouse Consulting was N316.5 million after the first phase was awarded to the company in May 2019.
She said, “It is one major area that we have witnessed remarkable progress in terms of recovery of debt owed to government.
Generally, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing and enforcement. So, this project Lighthouse shows that many companies and individuals who owe government agencies have refused to honour their obligations yet are still being engaged and transacted with and even being paid on governments payment platforms like the TSA.
The Ministry in 2019, issued a directive to all MDAs to aggregate and send to the ministry a list of all debtors and the outstanding amount they owe to all government agencies. This we have put together in one central point that we call Project Lighthouse.
Since that time, we have been able to aggregate N5.2 trillion worth of debt that are being owed government by third parties.
As at today, we have been able to recover about N49.7 billion of this amount through the effort and working that we have been carrying out with Project Lighthouse and we are still compiling.”
According to her, the ministry was able to get land registry data from three states – the FCT, Kaduna State, as well as from Lagos state – while others would join in the second phase.
She added that the project had enabled the ministry to identify revenues that government could collect using the common platform.
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Patoma Admin by — April 1, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0

By Favour Nnabugwu

The country’s biggest lenders including Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc are diversifying outside their core operations to boost 30 percent profit.

The banks are also mapping effort after covid-19 and a plunge in crude oil curtailed the home market to open insurance brokerage firms In Nigeria, through a holding financial institution that will enable it open subsidiaries in insurance brokerage and payments.

Access Bank Plc, for instance is looking to generate as much as 30 percent of profit outside its home market, following a series of acquisitions spanning East and West Africa last year.

The lender expects African subsidiaries and its U.K. unit to account for about 25-30 percent of profit before tax in the next three to five years from 21 percent in the third quarter, it said in response to questions via WhatsApp. The same range of addition to pre-tax profit is projected to assets, deposits and revenue, it said.

The Lagos-based bank currently operates in 12 countries. It said this year it will expand in eight new African markets by setting up offices in some countries, partnering with existing banks in some nations or deploying digital platforms to provide services to customers.

“We see strong contributions from our key African markets, regional hubs and our outside of Africa international business driven out of the UK,” the lender said.

It plans to grow loans by 10 percent this year to support clients whose businesses are benefiting from the coronavirus pandemic such as telecom and health companies, according to the lender.

Although, the nation exited a second contraction in four years in the fourth quarter, the sluggish economy gives no incentive to further boost lending, it said.

Patoma Admin by — February 20, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0

By Favour Nnabugwu

Fidelity Bank has announced the appointments of new board executives to replace outgoing directors who recently completed their tenure in accordance with the bank’s internal governance policies as Mustapha Chìka-Obi is new Chairman.

Chike-Obi, Chairman, Board of Directors of the bank  in a statement listed the newly appointed board members to include Mrs Amaka Onwughalu, Mr Nelson Nweke and Mr. Chinedu Okeke, as Non-Executive Directors.

While the appointment of Onwughalu and Nweke have been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that of Mr Okeke is awaiting approval.

He said that the bank looked forward to leveraging on the multi-disciplinary experiences of the new board members.

Chike-Obi said: “The board is pleased with the appointments and is confident that the new directors will bring their considerable experience to bear in the bank’s growth trajectory.

“We are very delighted to welcome the newly appointed directors to the Fidelity family. These appointments end the ongoing board realignment, occasioned by the retirements that had to happen, in line with our governance policies,’’ he said

After several years living abroad among the Nigerian diaspora, Mustafa Chike-Obi returned to the country in 2010, sensing that he could make a positive impact. He immediately began to do just that, taking on a position as CEO and Managing Director of AMCON, where to this day he continues his mission to set the national tone for fiscal responsibility, accountability and efficiency. “Avoid the ostentatious lifestyle; it is not sustainable,” he advises the youth. “Dependence on foreign goods is not sustainable either. Let’s do things our own way, and let’s hold our leaders accountable.”

Patoma Admin by — December 29, 2020 in Banking & Finance 0