Elendu Seeks Adoption of Blockchain for Dispute Resolution in Banks

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The board of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has raised the bar in the interim dividend payout for the first half of 2023, increasing it to 50 Kobo from 20 Kobo in the same period of 2023. This was after the bank recorded triple-digit growth in the bottom line, as the profit before tax (PBT) jumped by 371 per cent to N404 billion from the N85.75 billion recorded in the first half of 2022, translating to an annualised Return on Average Equity of 57.7 per cent as against 17.1 per cent a year earlier, as the

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 Modupe Gbadeyanka Momentum is already gathering for the 2023 edition of Hackaholics Digital Summit organised by Wema Bank Plc, owners of the foremost digital lending firm, ALAT by Wema. The event is dubbed Africa’s largest gathering of innovators, disruptors, regulators, policymakers, investors & customers in the digital space. A statement from the bank disclosed that this year’s programme will take place in Lagos on Friday, October 6, with attendance by invitation only, though interested customers and technology enthusiasts can secure a spot by registering at https://hackaholics.wemabank.com/digital-summit. The theme, according to the organisers, is Re-Imagine: Disrupting the Ecosystem for Scale,

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The chief executive of CardinalStone Finance, formerly CSAdvance, Mr Ayoola Adeola, said the company would deliver enhanced financial solutions and empower its customers with financial flexibility. Mr Adeola said this while commenting on the recent change of name of the organisation, done because it intends to offer a comprehensive range of financing solutions to a diversified clientele, including SME businesses and high-net-worth individuals. CardinalStone Finance is the subsidiary of CardinalStone Partners Limited. The firm said the transition marks a pivotal moment in the group’s pursuit of becoming a world-class financial services firm, catering to the evolving needs

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh The 7th Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok, among others, seeks to address obstacles affecting the tourism industry. Within the context of building internal tourism infrastructure, extra-budgetary investment is necessary for its prompt realization. The federal government and the Far East regional authority have also focused on this development programme these past years. In general, unprecedented funding has been allocated to speed up the creation of tourism infrastructure. The government has provided the necessary conditions for the synergy of resources so that internal and foreign tourists can travel around at affordable prices and vacation in modern

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh In late January, four African countries – South Africa, Eswatini, Angola and Eritrea – officially hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He went visiting these African countries as part of laying the groundwork and testing the pulse ahead of the forthcoming second Russia-Africa summit set for late July in St. Petersburg. The first such summit was held in Sochi in October 2019 under the motto For Peace, Security and Development, attracting a large number of African representatives. As Russia prepares to strengthen its overall corporate economic profile during the next African leaders’ summit, many Russian policy

By Adedapo Adesanya The amount of electricity generated by the nation’s 27 power stations fell below 3,000 megawatts on Sunday to 2,970MW over the weekend as a result of low load demand by distribution companies (DisCos). It was reported earlier in the month of August that 17 of the stations had been forced to shut down some of their units on the back of low demand by the Discos, worsening the blackout being experienced by millions of customers across the country. Total power generation in the country dropped to 2,970MW as of 6am on Sunday from 3,182.2MW on Saturday. The

By Modupe Gbadeyanka South African firm, MTN Nigeria, is planning to finally list its shares worth about N153 billion ($500 million) on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) before the end of first half of this year. The leading telecommunications company in Nigeria had suspended listing of its stock on the local bourse because of the fine imposed on it by the Nigerian government in 2016 for failing to disconnect unregistered lines on its platform. It was initially fined N1.04 trillion, but was later reduced to N330 billion. That year, the firm posted its first loss as a result of the

By Dipo Olowookere A total turnover of 2.018 billion shares worth N21.740 billion in 25,496 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in contrast to a total of 2.940 billion shares valued at N27.924 billion that exchanged hands last week in 28,567 deals. The Financial Services Industry measured by volume led the activity chart with 1.520 billion shares valued at N12.648 billion traded in 16,225 deals; thus contributing 75.30% and 58.18% to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 130.660 million shares worth N6.912

By Adedapo Adesanya President of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Mr Adeola Adegoke, has said the group would soon start collecting bio-data from all cocoa farmers in the country. Mr Adegoke said this task would be done in collaboration with the cocoa value-chain stakeholders across the cocoa-producing states and cocoa communities’ traditional leaders. According to him, this would enable the investors, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders to know all the information they need about their cocoa beans, cocoa plantation environment, inputs/GAP, and activities in cocoa plantations. Speaking on Thursday at the first National Cocoa Festival tagged Stakeholders’ Collaboration

By Dipo Olowookere The suspension earlier placed on Axa Mansard Insurance Plc by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited has now been lifted, Business Post reports. The earlier action was taken by the exchange to allow for the completion of the share reconstruction being carried out by the organisation. A notice from the NGX disclosed that the embargo was removed from the underwriting company on Monday, September 27, 2021. “With the completion of the company’s share capital reconstruction, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of AXA Mansard Insurance Plc has now reduced from 36,000,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each

By Dipo Olowookere The Executive Director of Technology and Operations at Access Bank, Mr Ade Bajomo, has hinted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is already exploring the adoption of the blockchain technology for the financial sector in the country. Recall that a few days ago, Business Post reported that Nigeria was eyeing to make about $10 billion through blockchain technology in the next 10 years. Mr Bajomo, while speaking in an interview on Arise TV’s Arise Xchange recently, noted that the apex bank was looking at how to make this a reality through an inter-agency committee and the