Banking
Ecobank Nigeria Expands Agency Banking Locations to 35,000
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
One lender deepening the financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is no doubt Ecobank Nigeria Limited.
Within three months, the financial institution has expanded its agency banking locations across the nation by 5,000, hitting 35,000 places, according to its Managing Director, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan.
The bank has been able to achieve this feat by putting in place different initiatives, including rewarding its customers and its Xpress Point agents.
“We celebrate our customers for banking with us. They are the reason why we are in business. We are giving them the opportunity to grow their businesses by providing them with convenient banking services.
“We are bringing banking services to every neighbourhood through Xpress points, our agency banking platforms where we presently have close to 35,000 locations across the country. The idea is to support agriculture, real sector activities at the grassroots level.
“We are also supporting family values to promote cohesion and preserve culture. We are supporting our customers to realize their potentials for instance we are reaching out to women through Ellevate, which provides favourable terms for women businesses, and generally, as a pan African bank, we are connecting Africa businesses to the world,” the banker said.
Recently, Ecobank rewarded its customers through the Super Reward Scheme, which is aimed to deepen savings amongst Nigerians, reward and assist customers’ businesses.
Four winners grabbed the star prizes and were N1 million.
The winners were Tsoho Alaye, with an Ecobank Microfinance Special Account representing FCT/Northern Region; Badero Modupe Olufunmilayo, with a Personal Flexi Account, representing Lagos Region; Omiwole Damilare Daniel, with an Ecobank Microfinance Special Account, representing Midwest and South West Region; and Hayford Gogo Lawson, with a Personal Savings Account, representing South-East and South-South.
Mr Akinwuntan, while congratulating the winners as well as the customers who participated in the rewards programme, disclosed that the bank was coming out with several other initiatives such as the Lion’s Den, an SME focused television series to air on DSTV which will afford young entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their business potentials that will create new Bill Gates, Dangotes out of Nigeria.
Earlier in her welcome address, Head, Consumer Banking, Mrs Korede Demola-Adeniyi, who congratulated the winners, said the bank initiated the Super Reward Scheme to appreciate its customers, explaining that it was designed in such a way that new and existing customers participated and won cash prizes.
She said, “50 customers with the highest deposit were rewarded with N25,000 every week while four customers with the highest deposit and transaction value within the campaign duration are today going home with N1 million naira each”.
To qualify, according to Mrs Korede Demola-Adeniyi, new customers were expected to open an account with a minimum of N5,000 and maintain the deposit for a 30-day period; the same applied to existing customers, who only needed to fund their active account with a minimum of N5,000 or reactivate their dormant account with a minimum of N5,000 and maintain the deposit for a 30-day period.
She added that at the end of the four months campaign, 800 customers won N25,000 weekly in batches of 50 per week while four millionaires emerged in each of the four delineated regions.
Se enjoined those that are yet to open an account with the bank to do so to enjoy its state-of-the-art digital payments and collections platforms, including its products and services.
One of the winners, Badero Modupe Olufunmilayo, said she was attracted to Ecobank because of its network advantage and excellent service delivery. She promised to be an ambassador of the bank.
On his part, Tsoho Alaye, appreciated the bank’s management for a track record of rewarding customers, affirming that he would continue to do business with the bank and implored every Nigerian who is yet to open an account with the bank to do so to enjoy its seamless service delivery.
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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