Polaris Bank announces New ‘Save & Win’ Promo, commits Millions of Naira in Prize Money to Nigerians
Polaris Bank has commenced a nationwide savings campaign tagged: Polaris ‘Save & Win’ Promo to give away Millions of Naira in cash rewards to its loyal and prospective customers who would partake and emerge winners in the promo.
Four millionaires will emerge alongside 4,379 Nigerians who will be rewarded with other cash gifts from N100,000.00 up to N500,000.00 per person in a monthly, quarterly and special draws over a period of 12 months.
The ‘Save & Win’ promo is aimed at making millionaires of everyday Nigerians by encouraging current customers of the Bank to grow their existing accounts by N5,000.00 in 30 days while prospective customers are encouraged to open and save in their account, a minimum of N2,000.00 and grow it to N5,000 within a month to qualify for the monthly draws, and stand a chance of winning N100,000.00. For the quarterly draw, existing and prospective customers stand the chance of winning N1m in rent as first prize; N500,000.00 for first runner up and N250,000.00 for second runner up within the promo period. The Campaign started from October 1, 2022, and will run till September 30, 2023.
The first draw, which will herald the first set of winners for the month of October, will be announced in the first week of November. On that day, the first set of winners, 62 in all, will receive N100,000.00 as their reward in commemoration of the 62nd Independence Anniversary of Nigeria.
The same process will be repeated in subsequent months where 100 Nigerians will win N100,000.00 each. In December however, the 1st quarter of the campaign draw will hold where 3 winners will go home with N1m in rent prize: N500,000.00 and N250,000.00 cash prizes alongside 100 winners of N100,000.00 each across the six geo-political zones in the monthly reward draw.
There will also be Special draws for Nigeria’s Independence, Xmas, Valentine, Easter and Eid-el-Kabir seasons. Additionally, the campaign has a targeted draw component where 200 winners comprising of artisans, trade association members will emerge per month (10 winners per cluster with 20 clusters activated every month).
The Group Head, Product and Market Development, Mrs. Adebimpe Ihekuna while kicking off the campaign, noted that “the essence of the exercise, is to give back to customers and encourage savings amongst Nigerians”. The campaign, she further explained, is a reward for the traders, artisans, public servants and indeed professionals who in spite of the challenging times, are able to put aside some money.
She reiterated that in challenging times such as we are now, there is a compelling need to save, not only to win a prize, but also to plan for the rainy day.
Explaining further on the dynamics of the campaign, Mrs. Ihekuna, noted that” both current and new savings account customers of the Bank are eligible to participate in the promo.
She disclosed that the joy of winning lies in the ability to continuously grow savings to have greater chances of winning.
According to her, “Winners will emerge from four routes or reward categories namely, Monthly draws, Quarterly draws, targeted draws and Special draws through a transparent electronically generated process that will be supervised by relevant regulatory institutions.”
Opening a Savings Account is simple and swift in Polaris Bank. Prospective customers can dial *833*0# on their phones to follow the prompt or simply download VULTe on iOS and App store. If you have a dormant Account with the Bank, you can reactivate it from your devices by visiting https://accounts.polarisbanklimited.com/reactivate/or any of the Bank’s branches across the country.
Polaris Bank, adjudged the Digital Bank of the Year, is a future-determining Bank committed to delivering industry-defining products to individuals and businesses.
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider has announced its commemoration of the 2022 edition of the Customer Service Week scheduled to be globally celebrated on 3 – 7 October 2022.
The event themed: “Celebrating Service” will be marked across its FBNBank subsidiaries in over half a dozen countries which include FBNBank UK, FBNBank Ghana, FBNBank Senegal, FBNBank Gambia, FBNBank Guinea, FBNBank DRC and FBNBank Sierra Leone.
Customer Service Week is an international celebration that highlights the importance of customer service and staff who serve and support customers daily to deliver exceptional service to customers.
The Bank’s celebration of the 2022 Customer Service Week will include several activities considered integral to promoting a relaxed atmosphere whilst extending its participation to everyone, irrespective of where they are. The activities include virtual engagement of customers on its social media handles: firstbanknigeria on Instagram; First Bank of Nigeria Limited on Facebook; First Bank of Nigeria Limited on LinkedIn and @FirstBankngr on Twitter.
Others are a video booth and photo frame funfair, then a Virtual Party on the Friday of the weeklong event and a movie date for staff.
Through the last 128 years of its operations, FirstBank has played a leading role in utilizing its robust customer service network and digital banking architecture to support its customers – cutting across diverse cultures, tribes and races beyond the shores of Nigeria – in meeting their individual and business needs. The Bank achieves this through its innovative, interactive, self-service banking platforms like *894# Quick Banking mobile solution, FirstMobile banking application, Firstmonie Agents, FirstOnline internet banking, WhatsApp banking, and ATM amongst many others. The Bank’s electronic banking channels are constantly updated with new and exciting features to expose customers to exemplary services and experience to put them at an advantage in the industry.
According to Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank “for us at FirstBank, celebrating service, the theme of the 2022 edition of the Customer Service Week is a reflection of our brand mantra “You First”. This reiterates the essence of our existence since 1894, centred on putting You, our customers First as we continue to support individuals and businesses to impact the economy.
With our dynamic and vibrant human-led and digital-led customer services operations, we remain committed to rendering the gold standard of services to our customers and stakeholders regardless of where they may be across the globe” she concluded.
FIRSTBANK PARTNERS VERVE INTERNATIONAL, MAKES CUSTOMERS MILLIONAIRES IN THE FIRSTBANK VERVE CARD PROMO
In partnership with FirstBank – Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider – Verve International, Africa’s leading payment technology and card business, has launched its third National Consumer promo designed to reward users of FirstBank verve card with exciting gifts and cash prizes to appreciate their patronage and use of the card to carry-out their electronic banking transactions.
The ongoing 2-month promo will end on 30 October 2022 as 20 customers (10 customers per month) with the highest transaction count during the promo will be made millionaires, winning the sum of N1 million each. Also, N20,000 will be won by 25 customers monthly.
On the other hand, 2620 FirstBank verve cardholders that double their transactions every week, stand a chance to enjoy 10% cashback capped at N2,000 per customer.
Speaking on the promo Chuma Ezirim, Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products, FirstBank said “we appreciate our partnership with Verve Card through the years; a partnership of empowerment and opportunities which include growing the economy, supporting new businesses and preventing unemployment. FirstBank verve card holders are encouraged to keep using their cards as it is a card offering that promotes safe, convenient and rewarding digital banking experience with 20 customers standing a chance to be millionaires at the end of the promo.”
Verve card is a secure debit card that allows cardholders to conveniently meet their daily financial needs such as payment for goods and services, airtime recharge, bill payments, funds transfer, etc. Verve card is accepted across all ATMs, POS, Web and Mobile Platforms in Nigeria.
The promo is also opened to new verve cardholders as non-verve cardholders are encouraged to visit the nearest FirstBank branch today to pick up a Verve card and start getting rewarded!
Only recently, FirstBank – in partnership with Verve – rewarded over 2601 FirstBank verve cardholders with various prizes; including N20,000 cash prize, N10,000 cash prize, N10,000 worth of airtime; power generating sets, refrigerator, cooking gas, smart TV and the grand prize of a brand-new car to a lucky winner.
Heritage Bank joins forces with Gail Sickle Initiative to rescue sickle cell patients
Heritage Bank Plc has upped the ante of its support in the corporate social responsibility space by joining forces with Gail Sickle Initiative to rescue people living with sickle cell anaemia.
The partnership with Gail Sickle Initiative, a non-profit organisation, according to the Executive Director, Heritage Bank, Osepiribo Ben-Willie with its back-to-school project support, is to ameliorate the burden of sickle cell persons in Nigeria and to ensure that all affected persons live normal pain-free lives.
She stated it has become of concern to Heritage Bank to help alleviate the burden as over 40million Nigerians are healthy carriers of the sickle cell gene, whilst 150, 000 children are born with the disorder. This, according to her, is by far the largest burden of sickle cell disorder around the world especially Nigeria and most of these children die in childhood from lack of access to early diagnosis and proper care.
“In Heritage Bank, health is a priority, that is why we want to continue partnering and supporting the NGO, Gail Sickle Initiative on welfare support, early detection and improved treatment and proper care,” she said.
Ben-Willie further affirmed that said that Heritage Bank in partnership with Gail Sickle Initiative is synergizing to create significant awareness and support for individuals affected by the disease.
Speaking at an event, the convener of Gail Sickle Initiative, Oluwafemi Ajayi, disclosed that with the support from Heritage Bank, the NGO has gone beyond its support to her members whom she refers to as winning warriors, to supporting and donating to people living with the sickle cell disease across the country.
According to her, as an organisation that supplies supplements to winning warriors, the Gail Sickle Initiative partnered with Heritage Bank and with the funds provided went beyond the organisations’ members and reached out to other winning warriors who have no parental support and to those in various hospital to give them supplements and offset the bill of some who were unable to pay their bills.
Ajayi further stated that Sickle Cell disorder poses various challenges to the carriers like the health challenge, stigmatisation, economic challenge amongst others.
According to her, the Gail Sickle Initiative focused on how to cover every aspect of these challenges by birthing the Sicklepreneur, this aids the warriors to be trained so they can acquire relevant skills and equip themselves to be independent. Therefore, apart from trying to eradicate the sickle cell disease, they ensure that the stigmatisation label on the warriors does not result in depression for them.
She encouraged other corporate organisations to learn from Heritage Bank’s sterling example to the winning warriors by supporting the initiative and further contributed towards the back-to-school project with relevant items donated.
FIRSTBANK: THE EMBODIMENT OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Who should corporate responsibility and sustainability lessons be taken from? Some companies are still unclear about the concept but latching onto the sustainability mantra anyway, because it has become a marketing buzzword for business? Or a company through whose creed and deeds, over the many decades it has been around, people can see corporate responsibility and sustainability lived (first) and preached (subsequently)?
If the above set of questions constituted a question in an examination hall, it would be one of the easiest of questions to answer. Not one person would fail it. Outside the examination hall, the answer to this question that seems as easy and simple like the question of 2 + 2 may not be as easy and simple. It may be complicated by all the cleverly arranged noise and claims projected at people to make it difficult for them to see and accept the obvious.
So, it is incumbent on people who know, and care enough (like this writer), to keep stating and restating the obvious. This is in the hope that doing so would help others to take full cognisance of the obvious and not allow themselves to be bamboozled by image without substance and rhetoric without pedigree.
The concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability is not about the clever or manipulative use of marketing buzzwords by corporate citizens. It is about impact, net positive impact, in the lives of real, not imagined, people through the deliberate and well-planned activities of socially-responsible corporate citizens.
Even if history is no longer taught in most schools in Nigeria, the records are there. The records show that Nigeria has been blessed to have standing by her, at all times, a corporate citizen which understands the concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
This corporate citizen has been standing by Nigeria before the country’s founding, through its amalgamation, Independence and all the conflicts and crises Nigeria has gone through and still faces. Today, the corporate citizen still stands by Nigeria.
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, a lender of unmatched pedigree, a bank with a history of unparalleled support to Nigeria and Nigerians (right from the colonial era to date, even serving as Nigeria’s central bank at some stage of our national development), has been a corporate citizen like no other.
A brand that has backed innumerable groundbreaking projects across Nigeria and beyond, FirstBank has demonstrated that real impact that can be seen and felt by all, and not mere marketing buzzwords, is the real measure of an institution’s understanding of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
It is incontrovertible that whichever way corporate responsibility and sustainability is understood or defined, FirstBank is sure to tick all the boxes. Just name every parameter for assessing a company’s efforts in corporate responsibility and sustainability and match each against what FirstBank has been doing. Is there any parameter that FirstBank has not surpassed?
FirstBank has been living corporate responsibility and sustainability for most, if not all, of its existence as a going concern. Knowing it cannot do it alone, the bank has also devoted resources to efforts that will enable it to preach or pass the message so other corporate citizens, groups and individuals will emulate it.
One platform the bank has used effectively for this purpose is its Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week. The CR&S Week is a full working week that the FirstBank Group, in-country and across the world where it operates, dedicates to the promotion, execution and celebration of social responsibility initiatives.
The Sustainability Week also includes a huge kindness campaign to reorient citizens towards the right values and reignite acts of kindness in society. It is only one of the many ways FirstBank is living true to its brand promise to always put customers first.
And the Sustainability Week seeks to invite others (individuals and corporate citizens) to follow the bank’s example and begin to intentionally create positive impact in their immediate communities.
From the inaugural edition in 2017, where the theme was “Promoting Kindness: Putting You First”, the Sustainability Week has helped to reinforce FirstBank’s role as a nation-builder that is driving sustainable development across communities where it operates. It was an opportunity for the bank to encourage others (individuals and corporate citizens) to follow in its steps, even if all they can afford to take are small steps.
Taking small steps may have informed the choice of theme for the second edition of the Sustainability Week in 2018: “Touching Lives: You First”. The bank sought to debunk the notion that touching lives in meaningful ways and making an impact on society require big-ticket projects, whilst emphasising the power in the little things people do and the small steps they take.
After all, is it not little drops of water that make a mighty ocean, like the saying goes? And does the journey of a thousand miles not begin with a (small) step, like another saying puts it?
Just take a look at SPARK (Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness), a values-based initiative that raises consciousness promoting kindness to one another in society, which the bank started during the inaugural Sustainability Week in 2017.
Aimed at reinforcing FirstBank’s corporate culture of encouraging giving and volunteering among its staff and the larger society, its magnitude today and the many kind initiatives it has sparked off across the country could not have been imagined when the seed was planted five years ago. Incalculable manhours and financial resources from FirstBank staff and partners have been contributed willingly.
Children in orphanages, internally displaced persons (IDPs) in various IDP camps, widows and other underprivileged or vulnerable groups have been visited and their challenges alleviated if not totally eliminated. Scores of career counselling sessions with secondary school pupils across Nigeria has also been organised as part of the Sustainability Week, which has been the first of its kind in Nigeria’s financial services industry.
In 2019, the third edition of the Sustainability Week with the theme: “Ripples of Kindness: Putting You First” enunciated the values (or pillars) of the SPARK initiative to include Compassion, Civility and Charity. FirstBank believes that these values and the acts of kindness that flow as a result of embracing the values are critical to promoting and building peaceful co-existence and prosperity in society.
Among the key highlights of the 2019 Sustainability Week was a “Nice Comments Day” that was a day set aside to foster words of encouragement, support and kindness to people around one, regardless of ones’ familiarity or close ties, in recognition of the instrumental role kind words play in lighting up people’s day and bringing out the best in them.
Another highlight was the SPARK School Engagement that promoted the SPARK initiative in schools, with the objective of embedding the values of SPARK amongst school children at a young age so the values become part of, and habitual to, them as they develop into adulthood.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic and government-imposed lockdown, the year 2020 witnessed no edition of the Sustainability Week. Any attempt to stage the kinds of activities and events that usually accompany the Sustainability Week would have been counterproductive, spreading infections and possibly deaths instead of kindness and joy that the Sustainability Week has become synonymous with.
However, FirstBank’s avowed commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability would not allow it fold its hands and just watch while COVID-19 and its debilitating effects tried to make living and learning difficult for most Nigerians.
Working virtually or remotely and, where it could not do otherwise, physically but in strict adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols, FirstBank executed several initiatives meant to ameliorate the very difficult situation in Nigeria then.
The bank contributed to efforts to provide palliatives to vulnerable Nigerians, announced a moratorium on repayment of loans, set up a special loan fund for businesses run by women, established another for school proprietors in collaboration with a state government and drove an e-learning initiative that sought to move one million school children to a safe online learning platform so their educational progress would not be set back due to COVID-19 restrictions, government-ordered lockdown and the closure of educational institutions for the greater part of 2020
“Kindness: A Way of Life” was the theme for the fourth edition of the Sustainability Week held in 2021. Highlights of activities of the 2021 Sustainability Week, designed to entrench a culture of kindness, included a practical-oriented training webinar for staff to embed a culture of kindness in the bank by driving understanding of how kindness (or the lack of it) can impact the workplace, the marketplace and the communities in which staff live and work.
Another important feature of the Sustainability Week was the “Kind Comments Days” that ran all week to inspire a consciousness of kind choice of words and consideration for others. There was also a dedicated programme in secondary schools designed to institutionalise SPARK by using school SPARK champions (including students and teachers) alongside other partners such as Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) and Lagos State government to inculcate the SPARK values in school children.
One other feature was the ground-breaking ceremony for the Lagos State government’s OCAAT (One Community At A Time) initiative to provide the Primary Health Care Centre at Ijedodo community in Alimosho LGA. Set up as an initiative to improve the health and welfare of the members of various communities in Lagos State, FirstBank partnered the government on the project as part of its contribution to global efforts to meet some specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There were also webinars: a general webinar with the sub-theme: “Education: Does Kindness have a Role?”; and a millennial webinar with the sub-theme: “Making the Cyber World a Kinder Place” which sought to proffer solution to the question of how people could become kinder on social media platforms.
All the past editions of FirstBank Sustainability Week highlight the longstanding and relentless commitment of FirstBank not only to continue to live but also to preach the message of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
Given its unmatched pedigree in corporate responsibility and sustainability, FirstBank has earned the right to address all other corporate organisations as well as individuals and groups on matters of sustainability. The bank has earned its right to the people’s audience.
It is against this backdrop that FirstBank’s forthcoming 2022 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week should be welcomed by other banks and corporate citizens, irrespective of industry, as an opportunity to come together and take lessons from Nigeria’s foremost corporate citizen with regard to corporate responsibility and sustainability.
FirstBank does not consider itself too big to take lessons from other corporate citizens in areas where they have distinguished themselves. So other corporate citizens should not feel too big to take lessons from FirstBank in this area where the bank stands highly distinguished.
Or can anyone claim not to know that if the concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability were to be represented by one corporate citizen per country on a world map where countries are denoted by their foremost corporate entities, it is unarguable that FirstBank would be the company eminently representing Nigeria on that map?
FIRSTBANK HOSTS THE FINANCIAL MARKET DEALERS ASSOCIATION (FMDA) QUARTERLY MEETING
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has announced that it will host the Financial Markets Dealers Association’s (FMDA) quarterly meeting scheduled for 5pm on Friday, 16 September 2022, at Federal Palace Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event themed “Nigeria Macroeconomic Developments and Outlook: IMF View” will have itskeynote address delivered by Ari Aisen, IMF Resident Representative for Nigeria.
In a statement issued by the Acting Executive Secretary, Mrs. Mary Gbegbaje, “The FMDA quarterly meeting serves as a platform for in-depth knowledge sharing, dissemination of information and fostering of business relationships of members in treasury market practice which consists of Treasurers, Analysts and other market players from insurance, pension funds, government and regulatory bodies in Nigeria. Participants at the event include delegates from all banks and invited guest and customers.”
According to Ini Ebong, Executive Director, Treasury, Financial Institutions & International Banking, First Bank of Nigeria Limited “at FirstBank, we are delighted to host the 2022 quarterly meeting of the Financial Markets Dealers Association of Nigeria (FMDA), a platform we consider pivotal to the continued growth of the financial market in the country. We are excited with the successes so far achieved by our noble Association – FMDA – as with the right regulatory and risk management framework, we have beenable to impact and promote fairness in the activities of members, whilst providing the enabling environment to promote business performance and positively impact the national economy”.
With the knowledge and insights shared in the course of the quarterly meeting, we would further deepen our resolve towards the unrelenting role we play in the economy”, he concluded.
FMDA is the principal interface with the monetary authorities through policy advocacy and engagement aimed at promoting sound markets and ethical conducts comparable to international standards that facilitate liquidity, transparency and price discovery and engendering market deepening.
UBA Records Strong Double Digit Growth In Top and Bottom Lines, Declares N0.20k Interim Dividend
Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced its audited financial results for the half year ended June 30, 2022, recording double-digit growth across key income lines as well as significant progress in the contribution from its subsidiaries.
At the end of the first two quarters of the year, the Bank was able to deliver a 12.6 per cent appreciation in profit before tax(PBT) to N85.7bn, up from N76.2bn recorded in the same period of 2021.
Despite numerous business, economic as well as geo-political environmental challenges including continued supply-chain interruptions due to Covid, the Russia and Ukraine conflict, and the resultant rise in prices of global commodities, that characterized the first six months of the year, the tier1 lender delivered impressive numbers, with gross earnings hitting N372.4bn, a solid 17.8 percent growth when compared with N316billion that was posted the same period in the prior year.
Operating income also grew by 20.1% to N256bn in the period, while the firm’s profit after tax closed the first half stronger at N70.3 billion, up by 16.1 percent compared to the N60.6 billion same period in 2021.
A further breakdown of the Bank’s half-year result, which was filed with the Nigerian Exchange Group(NGX), in the early hours on Thursday, September 8, showed total assets continued on an upward trajectory, increasing 5.4 percent to about N9 trillion.
The bank also delivered on its core mandate of extending loans to credit-worthy customers for the overall economic development, as loans and advances increased by 4 percent to N3trillion; while deposits rose by 7.9 percent to N7.6 trillion at the end of the period.
Shareholders’ funds however declined marginally by 2 percent to N788.5 billion, owing majorly to the decline in its foreign operations translation reserve as well as fair value losses suffered from the investment securities valuation occasioned by the increasing interest rate regime across the globe.
With the strong double-digit growth in profit after tax (PAT) vis-à-vis the marginal decline in shareholder’s fund, the Group’s return on equity (RoE) closed the period stronger at 17.7%, whilst return on assets (RoA) came to 1.6%, up by 9 basis points.
Reaffirming its commitment to shareholders and the investing public, the Board of Directors of UBA Plc declared an interim dividend of 20kobo per share for every ordinary share of N0.50 each held by its shareholders.
UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, while commenting on the result, said the stellar performance was in line with management’s expectation, adding that the Bank’s continued focus on its Customer 1st philosophy to pursue the mission of providing superior value to our stakeholders had increased low-cost customer deposits, and boosted the growth of its payment and transaction banking.
“The financial year 2022 showed initial signs of recovery of economies across the globe, despite continued COVID-induced supply-chain disruptions. However, geopolitical challenges including the Russia and Ukraine conflict, resulted in escalation of global commodity prices, particularly grains and crude oil, which have taken a toll on several economies. Notwithstanding these developments, our half-year numbers came out stronger than the prior year, with top and bottom-line reaching new record highs,” Alawuba said.
According to him, The Group’s profitability increased by 12.6% to N85.7 billion, with double-digit growth recorded across key income line. The Bank also recorded a decent 20% growth in net interest income as it continues to moderate cost of funds whilst improving yield on assets, thereby contributing to the strong 20% growth in operating income. “Our investments in state-of-the-art technology continue to yield expected results, evident in the huge boost of our digital banking income, which grew 22.7% year-on-year to N36.3 billion. These gains have enabled us to optimize net earnings amid the accelerating inflationary pressure, the currency devaluation, and increased regulatory-driven cost,” he said.
The GMD also noted that he is delighted at the strides made by the Bank in growing its market share across Africa. In his words, “Our retail business has continued to grow, as we ride on our agency banking network, trusted brand, competitive product offerings and quality service delivery to deepen our retail penetration,”
Alawuba who also commented on his recent appointment as Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, alongside five other Group Executive Directors, assured the investing public of his relentless commitment to the growth of the business. “Together, with our highly motivated workforce, we are poised to usher the business into a new era of growth that will deliver superior values to all stakeholders,” he said.
UBA is a leading pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than thirty-seven million customers across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 20 African countries.
With presence in New York, London and Paris and now the UAE, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross-border payments and remittances, trade finance and ancillary banking services.
FirstBank commemorates its annual Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability week and promotes kindness across over 7 countries
The FirstBank CR&S Week is a dedicated week designed to offer opportunities for employees to give their time & resources to defined causes in line with the Bank’s CR&S strategic approach;
The FirstBank CR&S Week is held in Nigeria and 7 other countries: United Kingdom, Ghana, DRC, Guinea, Sierra Lone, Senegal and Gambia;
Since its maiden edition in 2017, the FirstBank CR&S week is fast becoming a household name in the Bank’s host economies.
In furtherance of its continued commitment to impacting the lives of individuals in its host communities across 7 Countries: Nigeria, United Kingdom, Ghana, DRC, Guinea, Sierra Lone, Senegal and Gambia. FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has announced the Fifth edition of its Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S) week, scheduled for 22- 27 August 2022.
The event which is themed: “Kindness…. A Way of Life” reflects the single-minded purpose to make a difference in the world by inspiring and institutionalising kindness. SPARK is an acronym for Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness and it is a values-based initiative designed to raise consciousness that we can choose to be kind.
The FirstBank CR&S Week is a dedicated week designed to offer opportunities for employees to give their time & resources to defined causes in line with the Bank’s CR&S strategic approach. The CR&S Week will offer employees opportunities to give their time & resources to defined causes. The Week’s activities are an aspect of the Bank’s Employee Giving & Volunteering Program, which was instituted to encourage employees to give back to the community as well as inculcate in them the integral corporate culture of giving.
The Bank held the maiden edition of the CR&S week in 2017 with a focus mainly on three key initiatives/activities which were giving and visits to orphanages/less privileged homes/IDPs; career counselling day; and Staff Promoting Acts of Random Kindness (SPARK) initiative – which is now Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness. The CR&S week has become more successful in subsequent years and it is fast becoming a household name in the Bank’s host economies.
There are five main activities to be implemented during this year’s CR&S Week in Nigeria, FBNBank UK and across the SSA markets. These activities include SPARK APP,Kind Comments Day, Visits to orphanage/less privileged homes, SPARK School Engagement, and Women Economic Empowerment. The major highlight of the Week will be the launch of the SPARK APP. The app is strategic in the Bank’s journey to institutionalize “A Day of Kindness” on a national level, and globally position the Bank as a Corporate Citizen in leveraging new media to drive sustainability practices.
The SPARK App is a sensational application designed to have individuals abreast with the act of kindness through various kindness-based quotes and inspirational phrases that will be displayed on one’s phone screen, especially when the phone is idle.
Kind Comments Day is an initiative that focuses on inspiring and encouraging everyone to be deliberate with the use of kind words in relating or interacting with anyone.
In addition, with Women Empowerment, the Bank will support, VVF patients in need of surgical operations and also empower them with vocational skills as they integrate back into the society.
The SPARK Schools Engagement will be implemented through the National Competition of JAN SPARK School Integration. The activity is aimed at rewarding the various participating students, following their SPARK activity, Through the partnership with JAN, SPARK is integrated into the JAN Company Program, where students are taught the values of SPARK. The SPARK schools’ competition has been tied with Company programme regional competition,ensuring they imbibed the values taught during the training. One of the highlights of the event is the visit to orphanage homes and the less privileged, across various cities which will be carried out by volunteers from the Bank.
Speaking on the week, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank said “The CR&S Week is another opportunity to strengthen our commitment and extend our reach beyond the communities where we operate in Nigeria and across our subsidiaries. Over time, our goal has stayed the same, to create platforms through which our positive impact is felt.”
“For us in the FirstBank Group, beyond saying that we care, we take a step further and show it,” he concluded.
Through the years of commemorating its annual CR&S Week, FirstBank has impacted lives across its host communities in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and its SSA subsidiaries. These impacts comprise the partnership with Lagos State Government on the provision of a Primary Health Centre at Ijedodo Community, Lagos State; engagements with over 60 charities, Non-governmental organisations, orphanages, correctional centres, schools and Internally Displayed Persons (IDP) Camps which resulted in touching the lives of over 20,000 underprivileged individuals in the society including widows, orphans and children with disabilities.
ZENITH BANK ADVANCES WITH STRONG DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH IN GROSS EARNINGS IN H1 2022
In a clear demonstration of its industry leadership and consistency in providing superior financial returns, Zenith Bank Plc has announced its audited results for the half-year ended 30 June 2022, recording an astounding double-digit growth of 17% in gross earnings from N346 billion reported in H1 2021 to N405 billion in H1 2022. This is in spite of a very challenging macroeconomic environment.
According to the bank’s audited half-year financial results presented to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Tuesday, 23rd August 2022, this growth was underpinned by a 19% YoY growth in interest income from NGN204 billion to NGN242 billion and an 18% YoY growth in non-interest income from NGN127 billion to NGN149 billion. The growth in interest income was driven by the modest increase in the loan book and improved interest margins. The increase in non-interest income attests to the Group’s success in its income diversification strategy.
Profit before tax (PBT) grew 11% year-on-year (YoY) from NGN117 billion to NGN130 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) also grew from NGN3.38 to NGN3.55 over the same 6-month period.
The Group also recorded an 11% year-to-date (YtD) increase in total customer deposits to close the period at NGN7.15 trillion. The retail strategy of the Group continues to deliver outstanding results as retail deposits grew by 17% YtD from NGN1.82 trillion to NGN2.13 trillion. Retail activities also supported the growth recorded in fees on electronic products which grew by 45% YoY from NGN17 billion to NGN25 billion.
Despite the elevated yield environment, the cost of funds increased only marginally from 1.3% in June 2021 to 1.4% in June 2022. The increase in the cost of funds was lower than the increase in yields on interest-generating assets, giving rise to an improved Net Interest Margin (NIM) of 7.1% from 6.4% in June 2021.
Total assets rose to NGN10.12 trillion at the end of June 2022 from NGN9.45 trillion at the end of December 2021. Despite the headwinds imposed by the operating environment, the Group grew its risk assets as gross loans grew by 5% YtD, from NGN3.5 trillion to NGN3.7 trillion. This was achieved at a moderate NPL ratio of 4.4% (FYE 2021: 4.2%) and cost of risk of 1.4% (June 2021: 1.3%). Prudential ratios such as liquidity and capital adequacy also remained stable and well-above regulatory thresholds at 60.5% and 21.0% respectively.
The Group is focused on advancing its digital banking strategy anchored on a strong technology base, and intends to consolidate on the gains achieved in prior years across all business segments. Combined with the Group’s industry leadership, we expect this to drive improved performance and deliver enhanced returns to stakeholders.
Zenith Bank’s track record of excellent performance has continued to earn the brand numerous awards, including being recognised as Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital, for the 13th consecutive year, in the 2022 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine; Best Bank in Nigeria, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria 2021 and 2022 in the World Finance Banking Awards; Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria in the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2022; Best in Corporate Governance ‘Financial Services’ Africa, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, by the Ethical Boardroom; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria and Best Innovation In Retail Banking, Nigeria in the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards. Also, the Bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021, Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2020 and Retail Bank of the year at the BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards 2020 and 2021.
Similarly, Zenith Bank was honoured as Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020 and emerged winner in four categories at the Sustainability, Enterprise, and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2021, carting home the awards for “Best Company in Reporting and Transparency”, “Best Company in Infrastructure Development”, “Best Company in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment”, and the coveted “Most Responsible Organisation in Africa.
A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, not to allow plot to sell a Commercial Bank (Polaris Bank) has reported in a section of the media.
A news platform had reported that the CBN had allegedly proceeded with the secret sale of the distressed bank.
The group said if the Commercial Bank is sold it will not only compound the harsh economy Nigerians were going through but negatively affect the electoral fortune of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023 general elections.
Although the management of Polaris Bank Limited had debunked reports, describing it as a “fake news report”, urging the public to disregard it.
The Bank through a statement described the report as speculative and deliberately intended to create panic.
But a statement of caution released by Tuesday in Abuja by the national coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, criticised the alleged lack of transparency and the shadiness in the reported sale of Polaris Bank allegedly by the CBN.
While calling on the President to avoid negative effect of such move against the APC, HURIWA said: “President Buhari should stop the illegal sale of the bank immediately. The CBN governor has apparently been misinforming the President to approve ridiculous sales just as he wrongly advised the President to approve the sale Exoon Mobil to Seplat and the attendant bank and forth.
“Recall that Emefiele was also allegedly fingered in the ridiculous sale of 104-year-old Union Bank by two-year-old Titan Trust Bank. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should have probed the CBN governor over this allegation which is contrary to Sections 9 and 11 of the CBN ACT 2007 but as usual, the former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, is an untouchable cabinet member of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The CBN should be stopped from allegedly selling off banks in the country to cronies and friends as end-of-tenure benefits.”
The statement also called on the apex bank to issue a statement statement on the position of the bank on the matter in order to douse tension among the customers and stakeholders of the Bank.
According to HURIWA, “It is concerning that the so-called sale lacks transparency and is shrouded in so much darkness as no due diligence was not carried out, no tender, no advertisement to create public awareness, nothing, just some kangaroo and arrangee sale.
“To be exact, selling a bank which over N1.2 trillion was used to rescue at an alleged N40 billion is highly ridiculous and scandalous.”
