Banking

Examining Stanbic IBTC vis-à-vis Banking Industry Compliance and Corporate Governance Practices

Published

7 years ago

24/07/2019

At a recent function in Abuja, the Managing Director/CEO of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, delivered a lecture where he revealed that there has been a consistent decline, over the past three years, in the recorded rate of successful fraud incidences, thefts and forgeries in the banking industry. Specifically, Ibrahim said such cases had declined by almost half, 48.12%, of the rate it was in 2015.

In response to how the industry was able to achieve such impressive reductions, Ibrahim, while putting in perspective the key reason for frauds to help buttress his response, explained that poor corporate governance practices in terms of regulatory and supervisory oversight and compliance allow frauds and forgeries to thrive. So all that needed to be done was to ensure a stronger corporate governance practice. He said the reduction is indicative of the strict adherence to sound corporate governance practices by banks, which include compliance with regulations.

Indeed, experts at a recent workshop organized by the National Institute of Compliance (NIC) agreed that compliance is at the heart of sound banking practices and sustainable banking and that the risk of banking industry failure is remoter now than it was some years back due to a higher level of compliance. The nature of the banking industry, with its intermediation functions, is such that failure can have very dire consequences for businesses and the economy. Thus, banks have a responsibility to ensure a stable industry and this can only be achieved by sound corporate governance practices.

In the 90s and early 2000s, regulatory and supervisory oversight was weak and compliance by banks to regulations was mainly in the breach. Then, the industry was an all comers’ affair, mostly populated by charlatans who see the industry as mainly a meal ticket. Banks were being opened at a dizzying pace then, with sometimes three or four opened in a month. Before the recapitalization exercise of 2005, there were close to 200 banks in the country. There was widespread corruption in the industry at the time, which led to billions of naira of depositors’ money and investors’ funds lost or misappropriated. But following the recapitalization exercise and especially after the global financial crisis of 2008, corporate governance became a major issue leading to the introduction of a raft of corporate governance codes.

For a bank like Stanbic IBTC, regulatory compliance comes like second nature. The brand’s penchant for regulatory compliance was validated in 2015 at the maiden edition of the Corporate Affairs Commission’s Corporate Citizens Awards. Stanbic IBTC Bank came first for compliance among Nigerian banks and was awarded the Most Extensive Compliance award. According to CAC, “over 800 companies were nominated for the awards, only 26 companies made the final list, out of which the nine winning companies emerged,” including Stanbic IBTC and three other banks.

Certainly, there is no better validation than a regulator attesting to a company’s good corporate citizenship. And it is no surprise that a bank like Stanbic IBTC was adjudged the first among equals in terms of compliance.

Many sometimes view the bank’s processes and policies as cumbersome because of the different layers of regulatory requirements it insists must be met before a transaction can be consummated. But then on the flip side is that Stanbic IBTC Bank is one of the most secure, transparent and trusted financial institutions in the country today.

These qualities continue to translate into very strong financial performances in its operations and a bullish outlook for the stock at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

In its 2018 financial report, Stanbic IBTC Bank posted an impressive 54% growth in PAT. Balance sheet grew by 20% to N1.6 trillion, driven mainly by deposit growth of 7%. And most importantly, was able to improve its asset quality as ratio of non-performing loans to total loans improved to 3.9%.

Financial institutions, particularly Stanbic IBTC, fully appreciate and understand that their survival depend on how well they are able to manage the relationships amongst their stakeholders, which require them to establish and maintain harmony between parties whose interests sometimes conflict. It is the management of such relationships that corporate governance code embodies. It is this realisation that led banks to self-regulate when in 2003 the Code of Corporate Governance for Banks and Other Financial Institutions in Nigeria was established by the Bankers’ Committee and CIBN.

Stanbic IBTC’s strong corporate governance practices are critical to the financial institution’s continued growth trajectory. The seamlessness of its change of leadership last year was quite impressive and such practices will no doubt give it the desired stability to further increase its market share and to post impressive financial results, going forward.

With the 2003 code, the 2014 CBN code and a spate of regulations by the apex bank as situation demands, which makes for a stronger regulatory oversight, one can almost argue that the possibility of a banking industry failure is remoter than constant uninterrupted power supply in the country. Despite the cost of compliance, which can sometimes be huge and burdensome in terms of time and direct cost, and the risk of managements of banks becoming particularly focused on compliance at the expense of doing business, financial institutions remain resolute in ensuring a strong and viable industry. And this is beginning to produce dividends as shown by the recent NDIC figures and the industry’s financial scorecards.

Today, banks sometimes face the wrath of stakeholders as they strive to comply with regulatory directives. A case in point was the directive by the CBN that banks publish the names of delinquent debtors on its books, which did not go down well with some customers.

Another was the foreign exchange utilization position, mandated to be published weekly, and the various restrictions to dollar disbursements to bank customers. Treasury Single Account (TSA), which required all agencies of government to each maintain a single account with the CBN, leading to the withdrawal of trillions of naira from commercial banks, was another policy that banks would have gladly avoided but nonetheless diligently complied with. And most recently is the ‘appointment’ of banks by the Federal Inland Revenue Service as tax collecting agents, which pitched the banks directly against some of their customers and trade partners.

There is no doubt that there is a new compliance orientation in the banking industry. And as banks like Stanbic IBTC, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and UBA continue to lead the financial services industry towards improved compliance levels, it will not only check corruption in the banking industry and risk of possible collapse, it will, due to banks’ pivotal role in the economy, help sanitize business practices and thereby attract investors and boost the economy.

Banking

e-Payment Fraud Drains N134.48bn in Six Years Amid Digital Transactions Growth

Published

3 minutes ago

19/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria’s rapid shift towards electronic payments has come with a steep cost, as banks and their customers lost a combined N134.48 billion to fraud between 2020 and 2025.

This is according to data contained in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 document.

The report showed that fraudsters attempted to steal a total of N187.79 billion during the six-year period, with actual losses amounting to N134.48 billion across the banking and payments ecosystem.

The losses were recorded through a range of electronic and traditional payment channels, including internet banking, mobile banking, Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, e-commerce platforms, Automated Teller Machines, web-based transactions, over-the-counter services and cheques, underscoring the persistent security risks accompanying Nigeria’s expanding digital finance landscape.

An analysis of the data revealed a steady rise in fraud-related losses over the period. Losses increased from N11.61 billion in 2020 to N12.77 billion in 2021 and N14.32 billion in 2022. The figure climbed further to N17.67 billion in 2023 before surging to a record N52.26 billion in 2024.

According to the apex bank, the sharp increase recorded in 2024 occurred despite reductions in fraud amounts linked to internet banking, mobile banking and Point of Sale channels.

“Fraud amounts in Internet Banking, Mobile, and POS channels declined, yet overall losses rose by 196 per cent, primarily due to a major internal case involving N30 billion. Web fraud incidents also increased by 169 per cent,” the report stated.

The CBN noted that the development highlighted the outsized impact a single large-scale fraud incident could have on industry-wide loss figures, even when security measures were yielding positive results across several electronic payment channels.

The report also tracked changing fraud patterns across the digital payments ecosystem over the years.

In 2021, web-based fraud declined by 43 per cent, but total losses still rose as point-of-sale-related fraud incidents increased by 276 per cent. In 2022, overall fraud losses grew by 12 per cent, largely driven by major incidents involving corporate accounts, while ATM fraud jumped by more than 2,000 per cent despite declines across mobile banking, Point of Sale and web channels.

By 2023, e-commerce emerged as a major vulnerability within the electronic payments space. Fraud losses rose by 23 per cent during the year, driven largely by a spike in online shopping-related fraud cases.

“Fraud losses rose by 23 per cent, largely due to a spike in e-Commerce incidents, which escalated by 1,961 per cent. Mobile, POS, and Web channels recorded moderate increases,” the CBN said.

However, the report indicated that the industry made significant progress in 2025, as stronger controls and enhanced collaboration among financial institutions helped curb electronic payment fraud.

“In 2025, electronic payment fraud declined by 51 per cent, demonstrating the success of stricter regulations, increased industry cooperation, enhanced prevention strategies, and improved monitoring,” the document stated.

The apex bank added that it had worked closely with industry stakeholders to strengthen oversight, improve fraud monitoring systems and introduce collaborative safeguards aimed at reducing vulnerabilities across Nigeria’s increasingly digital payment ecosystem.

Banking

FG Hunts N200bn Investment to Kick-Start Cooperative Bank of Nigeria

Published

20 hours ago

18/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The federal government said it has launched a N200 billion share capital mobilisation campaign for the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria.

Announcing this development on Thursday in Kaduna, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Mr Aliyu Abdullahi, said the bank was designed under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (RH-CRRP) and approved at the 8th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Cooperative Affairs.

Mr Abdullahi revealed that the ministry is targeting 10,000 cooperative societies across the 36 states and FCT through a tiered mobilisation plan: 1,000 societies at N21 million to N50 million, 3,000 societies at N16 million to N20 million, and 6,000 at N1 million to N15 million.

He also stated that “through this collective effort, we aim to mobilise approximately N200 billion and establish a strong, sustainable, and nationally owned cooperative financial institution capable of supporting agricultural development, enterprise growth, financial inclusion, housing, transportation, value-chain development, and wealth creation for millions of Nigerians.”

According to him, “this programme is not a government project imposed from above. It is a movement-driven reform agenda that seeks to give life to aspirations that cooperative stakeholders have expressed for decades.”

He added that to ensure continuity beyond the current administration, the ministry has established an Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee for policy coordination and a National Steering Committee with MDAs, apex cooperative organisations, and development partners.

“The Federal Department of Cooperatives has also assigned dedicated desk officers to each of the seven strategic pillars of RH-CRRP,” he added.

He noted that the proposed Cooperative Bank of Nigeria will preserve cooperative control and identity while attracting strategic investment.

A 65 per cent equity will be owned by cooperative societies through the Cooperative Trust & Investment Society of Nigeria (CoopTrust), while 30 per cent will be open to institutional investors, development finance institutions, impact investors, and individual cooperators and 5 per cent is reserved for an Employee Share Ownership Scheme.

He further revealed that the ministry is rolling out the National Cooperative Digital Architecture Platform (NCDAP) to address data gaps. Key components include the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR), Cooperative Verification Number (CVN), CoopID, and CoopCHECK Credit Bureau powered by CreditRegistry.

Banking

TBC Salom Crosses One Million Cards as TBC Bank Uzbekistan Builds Deposit Relationships Through Daily Banking

Published

2 days ago

17/06/2026

Business Post Contributor

Deposit mobilisation has emerged as one of the most strategically contested areas within Uzbekistan’s banking sector, as rising household incomes, deepening financial literacy, and growing institutional trust create conditions for a progressively expanding pool of household savings to enter formal financial channels. Banks are competing with increasing intensity to capture these savings by combining attractive interest rates with frictionless digital account management and the broader ecosystem benefits that make consolidating financial relationships within a single platform a rationally attractive choice. The institutions best positioned in this competition are those that have already established high-frequency, habitual daily banking relationships through carefully designed entry-level products — and are now converting those relationships into durable, deepening savings behaviour.

TBC Salom Achieves Landmark Scale Milestone in Thirteen Months

TBC Bank Uzbekistan announced the issuance of more than one million TBC Salom cards in just over a year since the product’s November 2024 launch — a pace that CEO Nika Kurdiani characterised as setting a new standard for everyday banking product adoption in Uzbekistan. TBC Salom was designed from the outset as the primary entry point into the TBC Uzbekistan ecosystem: the product that creates the first banking relationship, generates daily engagement through a compelling combination of cashback and interest benefits, and provides the foundation for subsequent conversion into higher-value credit, insurance, and subscription products. The card offers zero-fee issuance with full remote onboarding, 12% annual interest on card balances, reimbursement of ATM withdrawal fees, and 5% cashback with partner merchants across the TBC network.

Active Rate Comparison Reflects Maturing Competitive Savings Market

The rising volume and sustained frequency of searches for terms such as “вклады в узбекистане” and “eng yuqori omonat foizlari” confirms that Uzbek consumers are actively and regularly comparing deposit terms across banking institutions — a behavioural shift that indicates the savings market is maturing into one where informed comparison shopping is the norm rather than the exception. This comparison behaviour creates both a challenge and an opportunity for digital banking platforms: consumers will move to the institution offering the best combination of rate, convenience, and ecosystem value. TBC Bank Uzbekistan addresses this dynamic by combining competitive deposit rates with fully digital account opening and management, removing the practical friction that has historically prevented many consumers from acting on their rate comparisons by switching providers.

TBC Salom Balance Data Reveals Active Savings Use Among New Cardholders

The financial performance of TBC Salom as a savings vehicle is confirmed by balance data from Q1 2026: TBC Salom card balances represent approximately 4% of TBC Bank Uzbekistan’s total deposit portfolio — a notable and growing contribution from a product that entered the market less than eighteen months earlier. This figure reveals that a meaningful segment of TBC Salom cardholders are using the card not merely as a transactional payment instrument but as an active savings account, drawn by the 12% annual interest on balances. The dual-function design of TBC Salom — simultaneously a payment product and a competitive savings vehicle — is deliberate, and the balance data confirms that this design is achieving its intended effect of building deposit balances through habitual daily card use.

TBC Salom

Visa Partnership Extends Card Reach to International Commerce

TBC Uzbekistan’s partnership with Visa, formalised in November 2025, introduced a co-branded TBC Salom card offering 1% cashback on all purchases globally and 5% cashback specifically at international e-commerce marketplaces, including Taobao and AliExpress. This international dimension addresses a growing and commercially valuable consumer segment — Uzbek online shoppers engaging in cross-border e-commerce — who previously lacked a domestic card product optimised for international platform transactions. The Visa co-branded TBC Salom enhances the card’s positioning as a premium, internationally functional daily banking product rather than a purely domestic instrument, expanding its appeal to a higher-value, higher-engagement consumer demographic.

Card Ecosystem Architecture Supports Sustained Long-Term Deposit Growth

Within TBC Uzbekistan’s broader ecosystem strategy, TBC Salom serves as the primary retail customer acquisition vehicle, with new cardholders progressively introduced to credit, insurance, subscription, and savings products through targeted engagement as their relationship with the platform deepens. The TBC Osmon credit card complements TBC Salom in the product stack, with 183,000 cards issued by Q1 2026 and balances representing 9% of the total loan portfolio. Subscription packages across TBC Bank and Payme apps attracted 1.1 million users in Q1 — a sevenfold year-on-year increase. Together, these products create a comprehensive platform within which customers are incentivised to consolidate their savings, payments, and credit management, building the multi-product relationships that generate the most durable deposit growth and the highest long-term customer lifetime value.

The competitive landscape for deposits in Uzbekistan is also being shaped by generational dynamics that favour digital-first platforms. Younger consumers — who represent a disproportionately large share of Uzbekistan’s demographic profile — are significantly more likely to open and manage savings accounts through a mobile app than through a branch visit. For this demographic, the product that occupies the primary position on their smartphone’s banking app shortlist is also the product into which they are most likely to direct their savings. TBC Salom’s strong penetration of the younger consumer market, through its digital-first design and its compelling cashback and interest features, gives TBC Bank Uzbekistan a structurally advantaged position in capturing the savings balances of the generation that will dominate Uzbekistan’s economy over the next two to three decades.

As TBC Salom’s user base matures — with early adopters accumulating longer track records and progressively higher incomes — the product’s contribution to the deposit base is likely to grow significantly from its current 4% of total deposits. Users who began their TBC banking relationship through TBC Salom will naturally gravitate toward TBC’s structured deposit products as their savings grow, their financial sophistication increases, and their income trajectories make longer-term savings commitments more practical. The bank’s investment in making TBC Salom the most compelling entry-level banking product in the market today is therefore also an investment in the quality and composition of its future deposit franchise.