Stanbic IBTC Fintech Subsidiary Begins Operations

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 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 Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in charge of Financial System Stability, Mrs Aishah Ahmad, has been apprehended by the Department of State Services (DSS). The central banker was arrested by the country’s secret police to harvest vital information from her over the sale of a first-generation bank, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, to a relatively new lender, Titan Trust Bank Limited. The acquisition of the more than 100-year-old financial institution by the less than 5-year-old bank raised eyebrows because the buyer coughed out $300 million to complete the transaction. Titan Trust Bank

By Dipo Olowookere Pro subscribers of Truecaller mobile application for unravelling caller’s identity can now know who last viewed their profile. This is because developers of the popular app have reintroduced the ‘Who Viewed Your Profile’ feature. However, this feature can only be enjoyed by Pro subscribers. The feature allows users to see who has viewed their profile, keeping them prepared for which calls to expect and from whom. Truecaller Pro users will receive a notification when another user has viewed their profile using Truecaller (please note that someone simply searching for another person wont trigger a Who Viewed My

By Dipo Olowookere The Lagos State Government, through the Vehicle Inspection Service, has revealed that about 13,750 motorists have been identified via the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Camera as violators of traffic laws in Lagos State within the first quarter of 2019. The ANPR camera initiative, a collaboration with Soft Alliance Limited, was introduced to aid coordinated monitoring of commuter movement to ensure total compliance of motorists with traffic laws in the State. Speaking on the development, the Director, Vehicle Inspection Service under the Ministry of Transportation, Engineer Gbolahan Toriola said the State Government adopted the advanced technological method

By Dipo Olowookere A support package of €143 million to help the early recovery and reconstruction needs in the North East of Nigeria has been provided by the European Union (EU) Commission. The amount is to provide basic services including energy, education and health, job creation, strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems as well as public financial management systems to people of the region. Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, signed the package agreement on behalf of Nigeria on Thursday in Brussels, Belgium. Mr Udoma said the financing agreement was for the sum of €20 million from

By Adedapo Adesanya Last week was fruitful on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange last week (Week 15) as investors raked N8.24 billion. Four stocks were responsible for the gains and they were VFD Group Plc, Afriland Properties Plc, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc and Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS). On the part of VFD Group, its value further improved by 21 per cent to N361.82 per share from N299.02 per share; Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by 3.2 per cent to N1.30 per unit from N1.26 per unit, Friesland gained 2.4 per cent to N130.00 per share from

By Dipo Olowookere Bullish sentiment prevailed on the secondary market for treasury bills in Nigeria on Friday, with yields slightly moderating at the close of business. Business Post reports that the average yields depreciated by 0.49 percent yesterday as all the tenors suffered various degrees of decline. This was as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) refused to conduct an Open Market Operations (OMO) auction like it had aggressively done in the past sessions. The heaviest drop in yield occurred on the one-month maturity, which went down by 1.64 percent and was followed by the 3-month tenor, which fell by

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Another set of 148 retirees in drawn from the Mainstream Civil Service, Local Governments and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Teachers Establishments and Pensions Office (TEPO) and other parastatals of government have been paid the sum of N597 million by Lagos State. The money paid to the retirees was the amount being accrued pension rights credited into their Retirement Savings Account. The payment has summed the amount paid by the administration of Mr Akinwunmi Ambode to N24.426 billion as accrued pension rights to 5,668 retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme, since August, 2015. Speaking at the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) Plc has confirmed that its investment, put at $50 million, is helping push Nigeria’s energy diversification and transition plans, with more in the pipelines. According to Mr Suresh Kumar, the company’s Managing Director, “We have spent more than $50 million on natural gas infrastructure over the years. We believe that there are lots of potential in Nigeria that can be explored for gas utilisation, and this will further boost our economy.” Mr Kumar said that the organisation had deepened gas usage and market penetration in the country through massive investment in

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr Bolaji Owasanoye, has disclosed that the agency has discovered the fraudulent insertion of over N7 billion in the budget by some politicians as empowerment projects. He made this disclosure at the 4th National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector held at the State House Conference Centre on Tuesday in Abuja. “Just last week, the commission, in collaboration with the Budget Office and stakeholders, met with some MDAs on the recurring surpluses in their payroll to determine proactive measures to improve the