Ecobank Wins Awards for Sound Management, Business Model

By Dipo Olowookere The acquisition of the United Kingdom subsidiary of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Union Bank UK, by Fidelity Bank Plc, has been completed. Fidelity Bank is a tier-2 financial institution in Nigeria, intending to move to the tier-1 category. Over a year ago, the lender announced that it was planning to take total control of Union Bank UK as part of its growth strategy. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a body which regulates the country’s banking industry, authorised Fidelity Bank to go ahead with the deal. In a disclosure on Wednesday, the bank said it has

By Dipo Olowookere The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Citibank Nigeria, Mr Yemi Cardoso, has been nominated to serve as the new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The renowned stockbroker and investment banker was picked for the position by President Bola Tinubu, according to a statement issued on Friday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale. He would be screened by the Senate, and on confirmation; he will take over from the acting CBN Governor, Mr Folashodun Shonubi, for a term of five years at the first instance.

By Dipo Olowookere Schools have been urged to choose Ecobank Nigeria Limited as their preferred financial institution for fee payments and collections because of the exciting advantages the lender offers. The Head of Consumer Banking at Ecobank, Mrs Korede Demola-Adeniyi, made this appeal while rolling out the special loan packages designed by the bank for its back-to-school initiatives. Mrs Demola-Adeniyi said the financial institution created some packages for parents, guardians and schools in line with its overall strategy to support the development of the nation’s education sector. According to her, there is a Banking-for-School pack for educational institutions to access

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Despite the challenging operating environment characterised by the Naira redesign policy and the foreign exchange (FX) unification policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Zenith Bank Plc showed why it is one of the strongest lenders in the country. Analysis of its financial statements for the first six months of 2023 showed that its gross earnings surged by 139 per cent to N967.3 billion from the N404.8 billion achieved in the same period of last year. It was observed from the results filed to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday that this triple-digit growth in

By Dipo Olowookere Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has reacted to comments made by presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Atiku Abubakar, that if elected as President in the next month’s election, he would float the Naira. In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Atiku had said he would fire Mr Emefiele and allow the local currency competes on its own with foreign currencies in the market. But while addressing journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, the central bank chief the floating of Naira as suggested by the former Vice President would

The Muslim population in Nigeria is still expanding. According to estimates, 80–85 million Nigerians (approximately 50% of the population) identify as Muslims, many of whom are probably Sunnis (60 million). Any Nigerian citizen, regardless of religion, can trade forex using Nigerian brokers as long as they are using their own money. However, every individual has to follow their own religious laws to ensure they are trading within the guidelines. In this article, we are going to try and answer the question, is forex in Nigeria Halal or Haram? Let’s jump right into it. Forex Trading According to Islam The mere

By Dipo Olowookere The government of Bayelsa State has announced Monday, July 1 to Wednesday, July 3, 2019 as prayer and fasting days in the state. A statement issued by Special Adviser to Governor Seriake Dickson on Religious Matters, Pastor Samuel John-Peters, disclosed that the purpose of the fast is to seek direction and guidance from God in the choice of who will take over the mantle of leadership after his eight-year tenure as Governor later this year. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Saturday, November 16, 2019, for governorship election in Bayelsa and Kogi States. For a

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Data released by FBNQuest Research has revealed that its manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the month of June 2017 has recorded another improvement. In its report on Monday, it was disclosed that the manufacturing PMI moved from 54.0 in May to 55.9 last month. In 2013, FBN Capital launched the country’s first manufacturing PMI. In its daily report, FBNQuest Research said data for the latest PMI was compiled by its partner, NOI Polls. “The index report is a familiar data release at the start of the calendar month in developed markets (such as the ISM’s in

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Newly appointed Director General of the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), Mr Hakeem Dickson, has pledged to ensure that every building in the state has an insurance cover to mitigate the devastating effects of disasters. Mr Dickson gave this assurance while addressing members of the Lagos State House of Assembly during plenary as part of the exercise to approve his nomination as the head of the commission. The House had in the recent past directed Mr Dickson to vacate his headship of the commission for failure to get clearance from the House. The DG, who tendered unreserved

By Dipo Olowookere Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has promised to work in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in order to boost the informal sector of the state’s economy. Mr Ambode made this disclosure on Tuesday when the group, led by its President, Mr Ismaila Zakari, paid a courtesy visit to him at the Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja. Governor Ambode thanked the institute for the skill sets inculcated in him 30 years ago when he became a professional accountant, saying that those skills were very relevant and still useful in administering the State.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Executive Chairman of the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (Oyo SUBEB), Mr Nureni Aderemi Adeniran, wants to occupy the Oyo South senatorial seat at the National Assembly in 2023. The educationist intends to be at the federal parliament next year through the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Last week, he was at the state secretariat of the party in Molete, Ibadan, to declare his interest in the position with party leaders, local government executives and ward chairmen from the district. While addressing party members, Mr Adeniran promised to be for the people

By Adedapo Adesanya Electronic payment volumes in Nigeria witnessed a 1.1 per cent decline in the month of August to 397.9 million from 402.3 million in July. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), the value of e-payment transactions also suffered a colossal N190 billion loss, falling to N23.97 trillion from N24.16 trillion a month earlier. The value of NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) also suffered a slight 1.2 per cent dip from N22.4 trillion in July to N22.13 trillion in August, while the volume of NIP transactions depreciated by 0.1 per cent month-on-month to 293.98 million from 294.3