Fidelity Bank Resumes Int’l Transactions on Credit, Debit Cards

By Modupe Gbadeyanka It was a double reward for a foremost microfinance institution, Advans Nigeria, at the recently concluded Marketing Edge Awards in Lagos. The firm, a subsidiary of Advans Group, was announced as the Most Innovative Microfinance Bank of the Year and the Most Customer-centric Microfinance Bank of the Year. The double awards are coming after the organisation was recently named as The Best in Retail Banking of the Year at the Pan African International Award. Advans Nigeria won the accolades due to its top-notch financial services and unwavering commitment to its customers. “We are immensely proud to receive

By Bliss Okperan The Managing Director and chief executive of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr Adesola Adeduntan, has disclosed that financial institutions in the country have the balance sheet to support big-ticket transactions, particularly from offshore investors. President Bola Tinubu travelled to the United States last week for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and went with some businessmen and bank executives, including Mr Adeduntan. The Nigerian leader used the occasion to urge foreign investors to bring their funds into the country because he would create a business-friendly environment to make their investments grow. Nigeria, which is the largest

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled a digital platform for the submission of Microfinance Bank (MFB) licence applications with effect from Monday, September 25. The apex bank made this known in a statement signed by its Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isa AbdulMumin. “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is pleased to announce the unveiling of a new online platform for submission of microfinance bank (MFB) licence applications,” the statement released on Wednesday said. According to the statement, the new online platform is called the CBN Licensing, Approval and Other Requests Portal (CBN LARP) and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigerians of Igbo extraction have been asked to leave northern part of the country within the next three months or risk being forced out. This threat was given yesterday by a coalition of Northern groups, including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) and the Northern Emancipation Network. At a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday, the group said the Ndigbos were no longer welcomed in the 19 northern states and now have October 1, 2017 to quit the region. The northern youths described the Igbos as threat to national unity, vowing to reclaim, assume and assert sole

Pioneer of Nigeria’s first fully digital bank ALAT, Wema Bank Plc, has taken another giant step towards creating a better and promising future for women in Nigeria and in other parts of the world, as it formally unveiled its proposition specifically for women. The new initiative called Sara by Wema was made public by Managing Director/CEO of the bank, Mr Ademola Adebise, at the Songversation With Aramide show; an event that was organised to commemorate this year’s International Women Day. Speaking at the unveiling, Mr Adebise explained that  Sara by Wema is a vibrant community designed to give the Nigerian

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Participants at a recently organised draw by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) were taken aback when winner of the exercise rejected his grand prize of the exotic Porsche 911 Carrera. Instead, the winner, identified as Mr Abdulkareem Buhari, a 30-year old trader in Kaduna, opted for the cash equivalent of his Porsche 911 Carrera reward. Mr Buhari was announced as winner of the GTBank Porsche 911 Giveaway Draw after a raffle draw held on Wednesday, December 15, 2016 at the Corporate Head Office of the bank. Following his preference of a cash equivalent, the bank presented Mr Buhari

By Adedapo Adesanya The value of the Naira to the Dollar depreciated in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday. In the I&E window, the local currency fell against the US Dollar by N2.41 or 0.57 per cent to close at N426.58/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N424.17/$1 amid a 62.5 per cent or $239.56 million reduction in the day’s FX turnover. Forex transactions valued at $144.03 million were completed during the trading day in contrast to the $383.59 million executed in the preceding session. At the P2P segment,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian equities market fell again on Thursday after it ended its eight consecutive losses on Wednesday, giving investors hopes that the market would continue the positive run. But at the close of market activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today, the market went down by 0.10 percent, dashing investors’ earlier expectations. Even the number of stocks traded at the capital market on Thursday was lower than what was achieved on Wednesday by 68,585,967 shares. A total of 97,139,930 units were exchanged today in 1,929 deals valued at N1.14 billion, though N13.7 million

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has backed the implementation of a $5 billion Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in the country. The President gave the backing when he received a group of joint venture partners made up of UTM FLNG, TECHNIP Energies, and JGC Corporation in his office, alongside Ambassadors of France and Japan, to Nigeria on Wednesday. Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting with the President, the leader of the delegation and Group Managing Director of UTM FLNG, Mr Julius Rone, said that a $5 billion loan has been signed with Afreximbank for the implementation of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udo Udoma, has reaffirmed plans by the Federal Government to achieve a single digit inflation rate for the country by the year 2020. Mr Udoma, while speaking on Thursday at a public forum, specifically said government was targeting an inflation rate of 9 percent within the next three year. Data released last week by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that inflation in Nigeria eased further to 16.10 percent in June 2017. In the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, inflation was almost hitting 19 percent, hitting 18.72 percent

By Dipo Olowookere The profit-taking at the nation’s stock market continued on Tuesday and this left the bourse closing with 30 price losers and 17 price gainers. The poor performance of these 30 stocks led by Nestle Nigeria wounded the market by 1.53 per cent yesterday to reduce the year-to-date gain to 27.57 per cent. Business Post reports that the 3.33 per cent loss posted by industrial goods, 3.21 per cent loss by consumer goods, 2.17 per cent decline by insurance and the 0.87 per cent decline by the energy sectors overpowered the 0.75 per cent growth recorded by the