Banking
Ecobank Cancels Charges on *326# USSD Short Code
Ecobank Nigeria has announced that access to its *326# Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is at zero cost to the consumer. By this announcement an Ecobank customer who performs transactions on the bank’s platform by dialing *326# is free of the USSD session fee.
Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, who declared this at the ongoing 2019 Nigeria Fintech Week in Lagos, said all stakeholders must come together to make USSD short code services free to all users, as a key initiative to drive financial inclusion in Nigeria.
He noted that for the industry to grow, all stakeholders should allow consumers to access banking and financial services such as the USSD short codes at zero session use cost, to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria and further drive its economic development.
Mr Akinwuntan, who asked stakeholders to adopt the strategy of shared infrastructure that will enable easy compliance to risk and regulatory policies, opined that skills development is at the top of core requirements for successful digital platform proliferation.
In his words “when the ecosystem comes together, we can unlock value for all partners and ensure rapid innovation. Clients’ data protection and the professional handling of this data are key to instilling consumer confidence in the system, and the entire ecosystem is only as strong as its weakest link. All participants need to adopt world-class standards for ensuring cybersecurity for the good of our customers”.
Furthermore, the Ecobank Managing Director said that in order to achieve a digitized Africa, countries must have positive regulatory oversight that encourages and facilitates collaboration amongst all stakeholders to unleash value which will include the much-needed investment in awareness and digital payment usage.
In his comment, President of the Fintech Association of Nigeria, Dr Segun Aina said the Nigeria Fintech Week brings together various organizations and individuals in the disruptive technology ecosystem both within and outside Nigeria. He further stated that the association has recorded in excess of four thousand participants across various sectors from over twenty countries across all the continents who have registered to attend different aspects of the week’s events.
“With the quality, diversity and comprehensiveness of the Nigeria Fintech Week, this annual event has obviously received overwhelming market acceptance and endorsement as the main annual Fintech and digital stakeholder platform to look forward to. We, therefore, expect all stakeholders to use the Nigeria Fintech Week as the main annual platform to showcase Nigerians creativity and remarkable exploits in value-enhancing Fintech products and services”, he noted.
The Fintech Association of Nigeria was created during the 1st National Fintech Conference in 2017 and can today boast of over one hundred institutional members from nine sectors of the economy all working together to connect, accelerate and advocate.
Similarly, the Africa Fintech Network was inaugurated during the 3rd National Fintech Conference and the maiden Africa Fintech Festival in December 2018. Today, less than one year after its inauguration, the association has twenty-nine member countries and country National Fintech Associations.
The Africa Fintech Network has been collectively supportive of continental initiatives such as the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) and Digital Africa, built global partnerships and recognized by the African Union, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Development Bank, Afreximbank and others.
These self-regulated entities have brought needed coordination to the Fintech ecosystem in Nigeria and Africa with linkages to and alliances with similar organisations in other markets across the world.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The six edition of the Hackaholics of Wema Bank Plc has produced 20 top finalists shared equally between two streams, Ideathon and Hackathon.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists include PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
They emerged after a two-day pre-pitch held on December 16 and 17, 2025, for the grand finale slated for Friday, December 19, 2025.
They grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 will convene the top players in Africa’s tech and innovation ecosystem, creating an avenue for these finalists to not only put their creativity to the ultimate test but also give their solutions visibility to potential investors for additional funding opportunities beyond the prizes to be won.
The prizes to be won for the Ideathon include N25 million for the winner, N20 million for the first runner-up, N15 million for the second runner-up and N5 million each for two women-led teams.
In the Hackathon category, the first to fourth-place winners will receive N20 million, N15 million, N10 million and N5 million, respectively.
The pre-pitch saw the top 43 contenders battle in a game of innovation and problem solving, presenting compelling pitches for a chance to make it to top 10 in their respective streams.
After a rigorous stretch of pitches and presentations, the top 20 emerged, securing their spot in the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0.
“Hackaholics started off as a hackathon and morphed into an ideation. For Hackaholics 6.0, the sixth edition, we decided to give both the builders of new solutions and the refiners of existing ones, an opportunity to make meaningful impact.
“For us at Wema Bank, we understand that innovation isn’t just building from scratch. Sometimes, it’s looking at what exists and developing new ways to optimise that and create more efficiency. This is the idea behind our two-stream Ideathon-Hackathon structure.
“Every year, Hackaholics shows us just how eager and motivated Nigerian youth are when it comes to exploring creativity and innovation, and we are honoured to be the institution that provides them with the platform and resources to put this drive to good use.
“We toured seven cities, indulged 1,460 participants and discovered hundreds of remarkable ideas; some of which needed some refining and some of which deserved to move to the next stage.
“For those who needed to go back to the drawing board, we provided useful guidance and for the top contenders, we were able to shortlist to the top 43, who proceeded to the pre-pitch. To every participant, Wema Bank is proud of you. This is just the beginning,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will enforce penalties against designated banks that delay the remittance of customs revenue, in a move aimed at strengthening transparency and safeguarding government earnings.
This was disclosed in a statement on the NCS official account on X, formerly known as Twitter and signed by its spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Maiwada, who said the delays undermine the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has noted instances of delayed remittance of customs revenue by some designated banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’odogwu platform,” the statement read.
“Such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“In line with the provisions of the Service Level Agreement executed between the Nigeria Customs Service and designated banks, the Service hereby notifies stakeholders of the commencement of enforcement actions against banks found to be in default of agreed remittance timelines.”
Mr Maiwada disclosed that any bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timeline will be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the period of the delay.
He added that affected banks would be formally notified of the delayed amounts, the applicable penalty, and the deadline for settlement.
“Accordingly, any designated bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed period shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the duration of the delay.
“Affected banks will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty, and the timeline for settlement,” the statement read.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Mr Ini Ebong, has offloaded some shares of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent firm of the banking institution.
A regulatory notice from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited confirmed the development on Thursday.
It was disclosed that the transaction occurred on Friday, December 12, 2025, on the floor of the stock exchange.
The sale involved about 11.8 million shares, precisely 11,783,333 units traded at N31.14 per share, amounting to about N366.9 million.
Mr Ebong, who studied Architecture from University of Ife and obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees, became the DMD of First Bank in June 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking since January 2022.
He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.
Before joining First Bank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Business Head.
He has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income and securities.
He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices.
At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks and market participants.
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