Banking
Coronation Merchant Bank’s Management Has High Degree of Credibility—Fitch
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A renowned global rating agency, Fitch Ratings, says the management team of Nigeria-based Coronation Merchant Bank Limited has demonstrated “a high degree of credibility.”
In a statement to announce the rating of the bank’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B-‘ with a negative outlook, Fitch said the company’s “strategy is well defined although execution could be hampered under current difficult operating conditions.”
In the statement made available to Business Post on Monday, it was stated that apart from the management quality being “a relative strength,” it was equipped with “experience and depth commensurate with the complexity of the business.”
The rating agency noted that the company has good asset quality, reporting a zero impaired loans (IFRS 9 Stage 3)/gross ratio at end-1H20, which has also been the case for the last four financial years.
“This reflects the bank’s lower risk business model and risk management capability,” it noted.
“Given the severity of the economic crisis, we expect a modest rise in Stage 2 and Stage 3 loans over the next 18 months.
“Asset quality risks are exacerbated by very high credit concentrations by the borrower and significant foreign-currency-denominated trade loans (forming 60% of total loans at end-1H20),” the statement said.
It was noted that bank’s viability rating (VR) was put at ‘b-‘, while the national long-term rating was put at ‘BBB(nga)’ to reflect Nigeria’s (B/Negative) challenging and volatile operating environment, which influences the firm’s financial and non-financial rating factors.
“The negative outlook on Coronation Merchant Bank’s long-term IDR reflects our view that prevailing operating conditions create downside risks to our assessment of the bank’s funding and liquidity profile as well as pressure on asset quality and earnings, but there is a degree of tolerance in these factors,” it said.
Fitch said in the statement that the lender’s primary risk exposure is to short-term (up to one year) self-liquidating corporate loans and traditional trade finance and Nigerian treasury bills.
“This is balanced by the bank’s good management of credit and market risks. Operational risk is inherent in the business but losses are low,” it said.
It was stated that the bank is well-capitalised, reporting Tier 1 and total capital adequacy ratios of 16.6 per cent and 17.2 per cent, respectively, at end-1H20.
“However, capital ratios have modestly declined from end-2019 due to fast growth and currency devaluation. Fitch expects further modest capital pressure to come from lower earnings,” it said.
The statement said the company’s corporate deposits are highly concentrated by name and around 17 per cent were in foreign currency at end-1H20.
“Given the nature of its trade finance business, the bank has a reliance on short-term foreign currency funding (around 25 per cent of its total foreign currency funding), which could decline if sovereign risks rise, leading to pressure on foreign currency liquidity.
“Balance sheet liquidity is underpinned by the short-term nature of the bank’s trade finance assets and large holdings of liquid assets. The bank is highly liquid in local currency but conversion to foreign currency is challenging under current market conditions,” Fitch said.
Coronation Merchant Bank, a leading independent merchant bank, was established in 2015, and it engages in corporate and trade finance, domestic capital markets and investment banking.
But its funding structure is a relative rating weakness as the bank is funded entirely by price and confidence sensitive wholesale funding, including corporate deposits, short-term bank borrowings and commercial paper. Around 37 per cent of the firm’s non-equity funding was in foreign currency at end-1H20.
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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