Moody’s Assigns Provisional (P)B2 Rating to Access Bank

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The banking subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, has been re-registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as a private firm. A statement from the parent organisation disclosed that the conversion was done as a result of brand confusion among investors and members of the public. It was stated that some investors confuse the parent company with the banking business and to clear the confusion, the banking arm of the firm has been changed to a private limited liability company from a public liability entity. Stanbic IBTC said it has obtained regulatory approvals

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 Modupe Gbadeyanka A business grant of N10 million has been given to 30 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who partook in the entrepreneurship development initiative of Unity Bank Plc known as the Corpreneurship Challenge. The young entrepreneurs received funding support for developing innovative solutions in several business value chains like honey production, rice, and snail farming, among others. The beneficiaries pitched their business ideas to judges selected for the competition across 10 state NYSC Orientation Camps; Katsina, Kano, Kwara, Imo, Rivers, Delta, Sokoto, Edo, Akwa-Ibom, and Osun States. At the NYSC Orientation camp at Ikot Itie

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would likely direct banks to increase their capital base in the coming months as part of a new policy push towards a $1 trillion Nigerian economy. The Governor of the apex bank, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, said this while delivering his keynote address at the 58th Annual Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) dinner in Lagos on Friday. The new CBN chief used the event to unveil the bank’s monetary policy thrust and economic outlook for 2024, following the cancellation of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the quarter. “We

By Adedapo Adesanya The cost of refilling a 5kg to 12kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, has more than doubled in the last 12 months, indicating more pressure on the cost of living for Nigerians. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Price Watch for August 2022, said the price of cooking gas increased by 101.17 per cent in the last year. The bureau said Taraba State residents paid the highest amount as it recorded the highest average price for refilling a cooking gas cylinder, with Katsina State being the lowest. The NBS

By Dipo Olowookere President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that the present economic downturn would soon be over. Mr Buhari gave this assurance on Friday while announcing the release of N522 billion to state governments. The money, according to the President, was to cushion the harsh effects on the economy. He called for more support from the citizens, encouraging them not to give up at this moment when the storm was already over. The President said he and his team were working round the clock to reflate the economy, promising that very soon, Nigerians would see positive outcomes. “As I

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A few days ago, the sale of Afam Power to Transcorp Plc for N105 billion was celebrated and the transaction boosted the demand for the shares of the conglomerate at the stock exchange, where it is listed. “This investment deepens our play in the power sector and takes our overall installed generation capacity as a business to 1,936MW from 972MW installed at Transcorp Power located in Ughelli, Delta State,” Transcorp had said after its Chairman, Mr Tony Elumelu, and the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Mr Alex Okoh, signed the deal at a ceremony

By Adedapo Adesanya The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, has assured that the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited will commence operations to capacity soon. Mr Adegbite gave this assurance during the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, stating that efforts are being made to ensure the factory functions before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, which is less than two years from now, precisely on May 29, 2023. He said that the federal government had made effort to ensure that the Russian company that built the steel industry would come to Nigeria to conduct

By Modupe Gbadeyanka More winners have emerged in the Stanbic IBTC Reward4Saving promo designed by Stanbic IBTC Bank, a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, to reward its customers. At the quarterly draws held recently, 77 customers were rewarded with cash prizes by the financial institution, with 10 walking away with N100,000 each and seven going home with N1 million each from the seven regions where winners were selected. The winners of this quarterly draw emerged across seven geopolitical zones of Nigeria, namely the South-South, South-West, South East, North West, and North Central, as well as the Mainland and Island areas

By Dipo Olowookere Morgan Capital Securities maintained its position as one of the favourite brokerage firms operating in the nation’s stock market last week. The company ended the week as the most active stockbroker by volume as investors bought and sold a total of 203.2 million units of securities through the organisation, accounting for 11.45 per cent of the total trading volume of 887.0 million shares recorded in the week. Of this total number of stocks traded last week, 10 brokers contributed 855.9 million units. Data obtained by Business Post from the exchange showed that Meristem Stockbrokers helped investors to

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices might struggle to keep the upward momentum for a third consecutive week on renewed COVID-19 fears. The market had been faced with oversupply and lower demand for some weeks due to the global health challenge. The market has only just been making a recovery as a result of the gradual opening of the global economy and for the first time in more than six weeks, Brent crude rallied and held the $30 level. The Brent Crude rose above $30 per barrel for the first time since April 15 to sell as high as $31.35

By Adedapo Adesanya The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has assured Nigerians that petroleum products would be available during the Easter holidays. This was disclosed by the Head, Public Affairs, DPR, Mr Paul Osu, in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, adding that there was product sufficiency nationwide and advised marketers against hoarding and creating artificial scarcity. He said DPR would intensify its monitoring and surveillance of petroleum products outlets to ensure compliance with quality, quantity, integrity and safety of operations in line with its regulatory mandate. Mr Osu advised consumers to report any infraction such as under dispensing