Economy

COVID-19: CSCS Goes Fully Digital, Begins Remote Operations

Published

5 years ago

27/03/2020

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc has activated its business continuity plan and has gone fully digital in order to serve financial market better in a period the coronavirus (COVID-19) is ravaging the global economy.

CSCS, in a message to all its participants and partners, exchanges, brokerage firms, custodians and registrars, said it was leveraging its digital channels to meet all requests at this period, as it joins global institutions in the campaign for social distancing.

Notably, the X-alert, an SMS sent by CSCS on all transactions carried out on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is also being used to educate investors on the need for social distancing and safety precautions against the coronavirus (COVID-19), with hashtags such as #StaySafe, #WashHandsAlways, #SocialDistancing and #WeAreDigital.

As a part of its strategy of dealing with the pandemic, CSCS has since suspended all business travels and temporarily physical meetings, including its internal sessions, thus leveraging digital technologies such as Zoom, Webex, audio conference calls amongst others.

Members of staff have been enjoined to remain alert to credible news and strictly follow all relevant directives and guidance from the state and federal governments as well as local and global health authorities such as the National Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and World Health Organization etc.

The company said whilst any staff, who may have returned or come in contact with a returnee from any of the countries with more than 50 incidences in the past 14 days have been asked to self-isolate, staff are also enjoined to quickly contact relevant health authorities in the event that they observe any indicative symptoms.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of CSCS Plc, Mr Haruna Jalo-Waziri, “As the Financial Market Infrastructure for the Nigerian Capital Market, we are fully committed to efficient delivery on all our services, as we work with all stakeholders to reinforce the resilience and liquidity of the Nigerian capital market, even at this globally challenging period.

“Having activated our business continuity plan, which has long been envisaged as a part of our crisis management framework, we are fully operational, even as a notable percentage of our staff have been empowered to work remotely from home.

“More importantly is our campaign on social distancing, better hygiene practice and other precautions against the contagious spread of COVID-19, as the safety of everyone is paramount to us, just as we have activated all relevant measures to ensure the safety of all depository assets.”

While assuring its stakeholders of the availability of its services running seamlessly, Mr Jalo-Waziri noted that CSCS had implemented earlier protocols including the daily internal sensitization on preventive tips to all staff along with situational updates on COVID-19 incident reports and management; increased hygiene measures through deep and more frequent cleaning of its offices, provision of sanitizing gels to staff and promotion of recommended personal hygiene practices.

“We thank you for your understanding as we all rise up to stem the spread of this virus and adapt to new challenges arising from the pandemic. Our focus is on helping you and ensuring continuity of our services as a financial market infrastructure.

“We are committed to our core values of SECURE and will continue to keep you updated as we jointly navigate these times. Please stay safe,” Mr Jalo-Waziri concluded.

Whilst it is campaigning social distancing by suspending services to walk-in clients, who are enjoined to use the digital channels, including customer contact centre lines (070 CALL CSCS – 070022552727 or 01 448 0500), chat platforms, web portals, social media, Mobile Apps and Data Exchange platforms amongst others, CSCS’ client service and broader support to the efficient functioning of the capital market, remains strong and active as always.

Economy

MRS Oil, Heyden, Ardova to Sell Dangote Petrol at N970 Per Litre

Published

2 hours ago

19/01/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The three major partners of the Dangote Refinery in the Lekki area of Lagos, MRS Oil Nigeria, Heyden and Ardova Plc, will retail premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at its stations across the country at N970 per litre.

This information was revealed by Dangote Refinery, owned by one of Africa’s richest businessmen, Mr Aliko Dangote.

The three independent oil marketers entered into a bulk-purchasing agreement with the oil facility, which has the capacity to refinery about 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The deal, first sealed by MRS Oil, ensured that it retailed fuel at its petrol stations at N935 per cent litre.

However, last week, Dangote Refinery increased its ex-depot price from N899.50 per litre to N950 per litre due to a rise in the price of crude oil to $80 per litre in the global market from about $72 per barrel.

In a statement on Sunday made available to Business Post, Dangote Refinery said, “All our partners, including Ardova, Heyden, and MRS Holdings, will offer petrol to Nigerians at a retail price of N970 per litre nationwide.

“We have absorbed the increased logistics costs to guarantee uniform pricing across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”

Economy

NGX All-Share Index Jumps 0.17%

Published

1 day ago

18/01/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.

This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.

Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.

There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.

On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.

A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.

Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.

Economy

NASD OTC Exchange Gains 0.26%

Published

1 day ago

18/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.

This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.

In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.

In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.

On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.

At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.

The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.