Fidelity Bank Pledges to Finance Agric Value Chain

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Like a golden fish, which has no hiding place, Stanbic IBTC Capital, the investment banking subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, was the cynosure of all eyes at the recently concluded Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN) Investment Banking Dinner and Awards ceremony. At the event held in Lagos, the company went home with five awards, named as the Best Investment Bank in Nigeria, the Equity Deal of 2022, the Best Equity House of 2022, the Best Corporate Bond House 2022 and the M&A Deal of the Year 2022. The recognitions spread across Stanbic IBTC Capital’s Advisory,

By Adedapo Adesanya All bank accounts without Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) will from April 2024 have “Post No Debit (PND)” placed on them. This is the latest directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to financial institutions operating in the country. In a circular issued by the apex bank and sent to all deposit money banks (DMBs) on Friday evening, the CBN said all the BVN or NIN attached to and/or associated with AL accounts/wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024. In the circular seen by Business Post, the central bank said

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Zenith Bank Plc has taken a huge step to establish a subsidiary in France, and to make this a reality, it has sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French government. The Chairman of the company, Mr Jim Ovia, confirmed that the lender may commence operations in the European nation next year, though it is working hard to secure a banking licence. This will add to other countries Zenith Bank has presence in, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and a Representative Office in China. Speaking at a signing ceremony on Friday, November 24, 2023, Mr

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of Coronation Merchant Bank (CMB) has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings to ‘CC’ from ‘B-‘, with its Viability Rating (VR) also lowered to ‘cc’ from ‘b-‘. In a note released on Monday, the rating agency said it also demoted the bank’s National Long-Term Rating to ‘B+(nga)’ from ‘BBB-(nga)’, raising some red flags that prompted its latest decision. According to Fitch, CMB was moved down in the pecking order due to a “significantly weakened capital position”, which if not quickly addressed, “could lead to a material capital shortfall.” Already, the financial institution

By Cowry Asset During last week’s trading periods, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected $250 million into various segments of the interbank foreign exchange market. The wholesale segment was offered $100 million, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window received $80 million while the Invisibles segment received $70 million. The interbank market (NIFEX) exchange rates remained unchanged at N330/$. In other segments, the Naira depreciated week-on-week (w-o-w) at the I&E FX Window, Bureau De Change (BDC) segment and parallel market by 0.18 percent, 0.55 percent and 1.10 percent to N360.36, N365 and N369 respectively. In the forwards market, the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the cordial relations between Nigeria and the State of Kuwait. The President, on Tuesday, during an audience with the outgoing Ambassador of the State of Kuwait, Dr Abdulaziz Alsharrah at the State House, said ties between both nations were important not only at the bilateral level, but also as members of the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) in which they shared a common interest. While thanking the outgoing ambassador for promoting good relations between Nigeria and the State of Kuwait, President Buhari, said he hoped that the cordial relations would translate

By Adedapo Adesanya Securities totalling 39.2 million units were transacted on Friday, March 27, at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange, 38,936 percent increase or 39.1 million units higher than the 100,380 units recorded at the previous session. However, the rise in the trading volume was not enough to push the key parameters up at the ended of the session as the market closed flat for the second straight day. Trading activities were done remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced many businesses and activities to shut down so as to stop the spread of the virus. At

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Airtel Nigeria has introduced a new television commercial to showcase the exceptional benefits of its Home Broadband connectivity. The Airtel Home Broadband offers a Basic package, with unlimited internet and up to 40Mbps download speed; the Standard package, with 100Mbps download speed; the Entertainment package with=200Mbps download speed; the Professional package with200Mbps download speed; and the Infinity package, which offers up to 1GBps download speed. To let subscribers know how all these packages can allow them to enjoy unlimited internet access, Airtel Nigeria contracted the services of a popular Nollywood actor, Eyinna Nwigwe. The movie star played

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Monday, June 12, 2021, has been declared as a public holiday to mark this year’s democracy day, a statement from the Federal Ministry of Interior said. In the statement signed on Thursday by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Shuaib Belgore, Nigerians were urged to reflect on the efforts of the nation’s founding fathers and ensure that the country remains united and indivisible entity. The Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, who declared the day as a work-free day in the country, also appealed to citizens to work together with the federal government to keep the

By Dipo Olowookere Nigeria’s first professor of capital markets, Mr Uche Uwaleke, has warned that the nation’s equities market was too vulnerable to external shocks. According to him, this was so because of the small size of the market. To limit the impact of an external shock on the local bourse, efforts must be made to expand it, he said. The highly respected financial expert lamented that it was unfortunate that foreign portfolio controls larger percent of the Nigerian market when compared with domestic investors. “Foreign investors are significant players in the equities market, often dictating the pace of market

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Debt Management Office (DMO) said the total debt profile of Nigeria rose to N24.4 trillion in December 2018 from N21.7 trillion in 2017, indicating a 12.25 percent rise in 12 months. Director General of DMO, Ms Patience Oniha, while addressing the media on Thursday in Abuja disclosed that the funds were borrowed to fund projects, to finance budget deficit and to refinance maturing obligations, adding that some foreign debts were used to refinance treasury bills because of the short tenor of the bills. The debt office chief noted that borrowing from abroad had also helped to

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Managing Director of Wärtsilä in Nigeria, Mr Wale Yusuff, has listed some ingredients Nigeria needs to gather to achieve green electrification goals without breaking the bank. Speaking recently at the 2023 Energy Transition Forum, the energy expert noted that contrary to the general belief, wind and solar are by far the cheapest sources of new electricity available, emphasising that their massive deployment is what will significantly bring the overall system costs down. According to him, the adoption of cleaner energy sources by the government, households and businesses will lead the country to the path of decarbonisation.