ABCON Begs CBN for Inclusion in Electronic Forex Trading

By Adedapo Adesanya Ahead of next week’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for Monday, September 25 and Tuesday, September 26, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pause its interest rate hike. In a statement signed by the Director-General, Mrs Chinyere Almona, the group said this was necessary to relieve Nigerians of the pressure on the supply side following a further surge in the inflation rate. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed last Friday that the average cost of goods and services rose by 25.80 per cent

By Adedapo Adesanya Pressure further mounted on the Nigerian Naira at the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Tuesday as it depreciated against the US Dollar at the close of business. The scarcity of forex was responsible for the poor performance of the Naira in the Investors and Exporters (I&E), black market and peer-to-peer (P2P) segments of the market during the session. Business Post reports that the domestic currency lost N2.62 or 0.34 per cent on the greenback in the spot market yesterday to close at N776.60/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N773.98/$1, amid a 10.6 per

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has said Nigeria is ready for business in the oil sector, stressing that he is ready to tackle all the issues relating to businesses in the country. He stated this in New York on Monday while playing host to a delegation consisting of the global leadership of an oil and gas transnational giant, ExxonMobil. According to a Tuesday statement by the presidential spokesman, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, the country is no longer settling for crumbs and leftovers on the investment agenda of the world’s most prolific energy conglomerates. “Nigeria has never been more ready for

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Trading activities commenced yesterday on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the two sessions this week have ended in the red zone. Analysts at Meristem Research predict that pockets of bargain hunting are expected in the banking space as a number of stocks are still trading below their fundamentally justified values. “Also, we do not rule out some level of profit-taking activities on large-cap stocks that gained significantly in the week past. “However, we posit that buy pressures will outweigh the sell. Hence, we expect the market to close the week positive.” Last week,

By Dipo Olowookere The fourth Biennial International Conference taking place in Abuja has received a huge boost with the decision of Roche Diagnostics to support the event. Roche Diagnostics is collaborating with organisers of the summit, African Society for Laboratory Medicine in order to make it bigger and better. The confab themed Role of the Laboratory, aims to prevent and control the next pandemic in Africa and also give participants information on the laboratory medicine landscape and needs in Africa as well as increase awareness of opportunities to invest in laboratory medicine amongst private, public and philanthropic donors. The conference

By Dipo Olowookere Ahead of the 2019 National Assembly elections in February, traditional rulers of Isoko ethnic nationality in Delta State have expressed their desire to have the immediate-past governor of the state and All Progressives Congress (APC) 2019 Delta South senatorial candidate, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, represent the district at the upper legislative chamber for a change in status quo, and for the sake of progress in the area. Speaking for traditional rulers of Isoko South in Oleh on Wednesday, His Royal Majesty, Anthony Ovrawah, Omogha 1, the Odio-Ologbo of Oleh, said Uduaghan had the blessings and support of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The suspension earlier placed on the shares of Universal Insurance Plc by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has now been lifted. With this, investors and shareholders having equities of the insurer in their portfolio can now transact them on the floor of the exchange. Universal Insurance received the hammer on its head over its failure to submit its audited accounts to the NSE within the required speculated time. The insurance company was one of the firms suspended by the regulatory agency over the abover issue. However, some days ago, the company finally submitted its Audited Financial Statement

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has proposed new licensing regime for all categories of payment service providers and financial technology (FinTechs) companies in the country. This it said when fully implemented, it will properly position the apex bank to adequately address the emerging issues of FinTech with respects to cyber risks, risk management framework, capital adequacy, better focused regulation and oversight operations. FinTechs have been evolving with innovative products which are gaining acceptance within the country and banks have been collaborating with these technology companies in order to remain competitive in the financial services ecosystem. The

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed flat on Tuesday despite the busy nature of the market during the second trading session of the week. Business Post reports that the activity level improved yesterday as investors bought Access Bank for its interim dividend as well as others, while the others offloaded a few equities like FBN Holdings. This pushed the trading volume higher by 68.73 per cent to 355.9 million units to 211.0 million units, raised the trading value by 107.55 per cent to N2.9 billion from N1.4 billion and lifted the number of deals by 6.32 per

In a bid to promote financial literacy amongst women and the younger generation, FBNQuest, the investment banking and asset management subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, recently held educative sessions to educate women, preteens and teenagers on how to preserve, save and grow their wealth. In celebration of International Women’s Month, the organisation, through its Leading Conversations with FBNQuest webinar series, hosted three webinars aimed at promoting financial literacy among women. The webinars were themed You Worked Hard for it – Let’s Preserve it – a webinar on the benefits of Estate Planning; Investment Options and How to Get Started and

By Adedapo Adesanya The United Nations, through the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), has disclosed that migrant workers sent home an estimated $605 billion to low- and middle-income countries last year. In a UN study released on Thursday, it was disclosed that this was boosted by an increase in payments sent via mobile phones. Global remittances flows rose 8.6 per cent compared to 2020 and are projected to grow to $630 billion in 2022. Such payments are a major source of income for many low-income households, with around 800 million family members expected to benefit in 2022. Between now