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FINTECH 5.0: EVALUATING HOW FIRSTBANK STRENGTHENS COLLABORATION

…To drive financial inclusion

It was Sir Isaac Newton, in his letter to Robert Hooke in 1675, who wrote the now-famous quote: “If I have seen further (than others), it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

The shoulders of giants Sir Newton referred to has to do with leverage provided by the discoveries and experiences of people who have gone before or walked that same path earlier, that pave the way for and enable other people and a new generation to take things to a totally new dimension.

The truth is, giants whose shoulders provide such leverage to the next generation can be found in various fields and various nations. In Nigeria, for example, such giants exist in various fields and they are known and recognised.

Take the fintech (financial technology) space in Nigeria, where one bank is known to have stood as a giant with very broad shoulders, having capacities that have been built up and accumulated over 127 continuous years. Every year since 2016 (apart from 2017 when it was implementing ideas from 2016, including a Digital Innovation Lab), this well-recognised bank has provided a platform for the most robust engagement of the fintech industry in Nigeria. Tagged Fintech Summit, the annual engagement has continued to help in catalysing the fintech sector to ever-higher levels from year to year.

Held in Lagos the commercial capital of Nigeria and arguably the fintech capital of Africa, given Nigeria’s status as the leading nation in the fintech space in Africa, the annual FirstBank Fintech Summit has attracted an average of a thousand participants, who are mostly fintech owners, workers and enthusiasts, yearly. Last year’s Summit, Fintech Summit 4.0 with the theme

“How Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence will Disrupt Fintech in Nigeria”, however, drew an unprecedented number of participants – over 6,000 from across 52 different countries. It was the first virtual Summit due to the restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and it featured as keynote speaker Silicon Valley-based innovator of international repute, Chinedu Echeruo, who founded HopStop that was later sold to Apple for US$1 billion. Imagine the inspiration, dreams and aspirations young people soak up while listening to speakers with such a profile.

Far from being one-directional – with all the talk flowing from only the speaker to the audience – the yearly Summit is actually a platform for multidimensional engagement involving various stakeholders in the fintech industry – operators, regulators, investors, enthusiasts, fintech journalists and writers, bankers, et cetera.

It offers an unequalled opportunity for networking among fintech and other stakeholders, leading to opportunities for collaboration within the community. For small businesses and start-ups powered by FirstBank’s support, the annual Summit has been a veritable platform for showcasing them. The platform has also served for the announcement of policy initiatives coupled with pronouncements that provide clarifications to policy. This is due to invitations extended to regulators and the important role they are assigned in conversations facilitated during the Summit.

The Summit that preceded last year’s, i.e., the third edition of Fintech Summit 3.0 held in 2019, featured another heavyweight in Nigeria’s fintech industry, Victor Asemota, founder of Swifta Systems & Services, as keynote speaker. The theme “Banking + Tech = Solving Real Problems”, included panel sessions featuring experts with over two hundred combined years of experience in both the financial and technological industries.

They applied their knowledge, expertise and experience to address challenges in the technologically-driven business world, structured in terms of Solving Business Problems; Solving Regulatory, Security and Legal Problems; and Solving Lifestyle Problems. At the end of the Summit, participants must have felt that the Summit delivered on the confidence the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, Adesola Adeduntan, had expressed when he remarked in his welcome address, “I am optimistic that every organisation represented here will be empowered to provide services with greater speed and solve real societal problems to the advantage of the Nigerian populace through the insights that will be gained from this event.“

Fintech Summit 3.0 had built on the success of the second edition, Fintech Summit 2.0 held in 2018, which had “The Future of Banking – The Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data” as a theme. Adia Sowho, the Managing Director of Mines in Nigeria, had, as the first keynote speaker, stressed the importance of collaboration between legacy banks and fintechs in the overall good of their shared financial services space. The Deputy Managing Director of FirstBank, Gbenga Shobo, had, in his welcome address, said that FirstBank was committed to finding the right balance in its approach in supporting the budding fintech industry. It is gratifying that the bank has since found that right balance and pushed ahead enthusiastically with the continual annual engagement that is its yearly Fintech Summit.

For those who like to bring up the argument that deposit money banks (DMBs) and fintech are rivals competing in the same space for the same customers and wonder why FirstBank, a leading deposit money bank, would itself be involved in efforts to catalyse the fintech industry, they need to wake up and smell the coffee. FirstBank is continuously evolving and staying on the cutting edge of technology in order to better serve its customers, who are themselves evolving and adapting to newer and more efficient and convenient technologies as they become available.

And FirstBank is on a journey to a future where it is happy, in the spirit of the African tradition of Ubuntu, to take all fintech along with it. In the words of another famous quote, “The sky is too big for two [or many] big birds flying in it to collide.” FirstBank believes there is ample room for all players – deposit money banks, fintech, et cetera – to fulfil their unique roles. Therefore, collaboration, not competition, is FirstBank’s watchword. And FirstBank considers fintech partners in progress in its avowed commitment to driving financial inclusion.

FirstBank’s own evolution and the transition is causing some people to question its continuous classification by the Central Bank as a deposit money bank (with a preponderance of bricks-and-mortar banking operations) rather than a digital bank. And the reasons for their argument cannot be easily waved aside. In 2020, for example, over 85 per cent of the banking transactions that were required by customers of FirstBank were performed on the bank’s self-service channels.

That means customers of the bank only needed the attention of the bank’s staff or branches for just 15 per cent of all the banking transactions they required in 2020. There are now as many as over 16 million customers between FirstBank’s digital channels of online banking (called FirstOnline), mobile banking (christened FirstMobile) and USSD banking (called *894# quick banking).

Between FirstOnline and FirstMobile, a growth of 21 per cent in the user base was experienced in 2020. Customers on both platforms conducted approximately 256 million transactions worth N15.7 trillion in the same year. FirstOnline, as of June 2021, had an impressive 597,466 customers on the service, a 17 per cent growth on the previous year and 578,292 transactions per month, averaging a value of N388 billion per month.

For FirstMobile, besides the impressive gain in numbers, it gained recognition as “Best Mobile Banking App” at the Global Finance Best Digital Bank Awards, for providing excellent self-service through its user-friendly app. FirstMobile had, as of June 2021, 4,596,203 users on the platform, which is a nine per cent growth on the previous year and an average of 27,730,830 transactions every month. While these numbers point to the giant statue of the bank, none of it excites FirstBank as much as Firstmonie, because of its invaluable role in driving financial inclusion at the grassroots level, one of FirstBank’s overriding commitments.

Firstmonie, the agent banking network of FirstBank, currently has over 130,000 agents across the country, making it the largest bank-led agent network anywhere in Africa. As the foremost financial inclusion service in the country, it has achieved over 750 million transactions worth N15 trillion (about US$30 billion) processed from inception to date.

Over 295 million of those transactions with a total value of N6.65 trillion were processed in 2020 alone – the same year COVID-19 caused widespread disruptions across the globe. Firstmonie agency banking scheme has empowered agents across all Local Government Areas in the country, providing employment to thousands of people.

FirstBank through the Firstmonie platform further supports the fintech industry via partnership collaborations with local and international fintechs. All these are geared towards expanding financial inclusion and providing a variety of services to customers of the bank with giant shoulders that customers and fintechs can stand on to see further.

As for Sir Isaac Newton, the giant of a scientist whose famous quote began this piece, if he could read us from the grave, he would feel very proud today to see that celebrated line from his 1675 letter being aptly used to represent the relationship that exists between the broad, energetic and dynamic shoulders of Nigeria’s banking behemoth, FirstBank, and the rapidly emerging beautiful bride of Nigeria’s economic sectors, the fintech industry. This relationship climaxes every year in the annual Fintech Summit and the forthcoming Fintech Summit 5.0 promises to take the relationship to a whole new dimension.

Culled from BusinessDay

UBA’s LEO Continues to Evolve, Remains Smartest Banking Chatbot

…Hits 3 million user mark

Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has in the last three years won the hearts of its customers with its artificial intelligence chat bot, LEO, which has proven to be the most formidable artificial intelligence chat bot till date; serving an ever-increasing clientele who now have less transaction hassles to worry about.

Leo is an AI chatbot for banking services currently available on Face-book Messenger, WhatsApp, Apple Device and is set to launch soon on other social media platforms.

Birthed January 11, 2018, with a firm resolve to prioritise its customers as well as put the bank at the heart of disruptive technologies that will transform the experience of esteemed customers, UBA did just that with a million users becoming hooked in less than three months of its LEO’s inception.

Three years later, and with over 3 million customers and counting, UBA’s LEO, has without doubt, remained the smartest Banking Chatbot in Nigeria because of its speed and quick learning intelligence and has continued to evolve with plenty to offer its teeming customers. While other financial institutions are still trying to figure to find their feet as regards AI, UBA’s LEO has become a massive success as the AI continues to consolidate on it successes and accolades winning several awards overtime.

The chat bot continues to enjoy periodic and systematic upgrade with special emphasis on enhanced advancements and specialised unique features which have clearly earned the chatbot over 3 million Users.

UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, affirmed that UBA customers indeed agree that LEO is one of the bank’s biggest investments in cutting-edge technology and has been steadily changing the face of banking in the continent.

“UBA’s vision has always been and will remain a dominating force in Africa’s digital banking space. Our resolve is to provide unparalleled experience across all channels. We are a technology-driven institution with vast knowledge in the business that we do and LEO, being a tested, dependable and intelligent personality, replicated on WhatsApp the success it recorded on the Facebook Messenger platform where it started its journey and later on the IOS (iPhone Operating System) platform . It is a solution that is from the customer’s standpoint, easy to use by anyone regardless of demography. LEO is always ready and waiting to help with any form of banking service,” Uzoka said.

“As an app that has been in existence for over nine years, reaching more than 1.5 billion people in over 180 countries, WhatsApp has become very essential in lifestyle and that is why UBA saw the need to include LEO’s services in that very important app and the premium private chat platform has assured that there will be no spam messages, as the development is to enable businesses serve their customers with useful information,” the GMD stated,

Uzoka explained that LEO is already present in over 20 African countries and in three languages and has a number of rich and robust features bound to mesmerise existing and potential customers with services that are extremely fast and secure as all transactions and enquiries are encrypted, end-to-end.

LEO has the ability to do a wide range of things, including funds transfer, call card top-up, checking of account balance, retrieval of bank statements, instant account openings for new customers, statement to embassy/other banks/microfinance, purchase of airtime/ data, paying of bills (LCC, PHCN, Cable TV), effectively helping with savings and spend limit.

The AI chatbot also boosts of remarkable innovative features that allows customers make banking Services – Request/stop/confirm Cheques, Block card, Log & track complaints, ATM/Branch Locator, Freeze accounts, and check weather etc. Other features include Customer Care complaint resolution, linking of new account, flight Payment, linking and Funding of Prepaid Card, Travel Notification, Wakanow services and Dubai Visa service.

The GMD pointed out that, customers who have engaged with LEO are more than delighted about their experience and credit it for automatically extracting account details without hassles, adding that “Testimonies abound about how it is generally easier to use LEO compared to its counterparts. For example, LEO automatically detects account numbers via a customer’s WhatsApp mobile number and goes ahead to seamlessly help customers check their account balance as well as top-up airtime”.

Reviews from customers note that LEO is more personable, more humane, and it feels like talking to an experienced customer service/Fulfilment representative. The Bot also allows customers to easily lodge and process complaints with adequate and timely feedback.

UBA offers banking services to more than twenty-five million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 20 African countries. With presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, 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.

eNaira Is Not A Subtle Scheme to steal your customers, CBN tells banks

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has told financial institutions in the country that eNaira is not a subtle scheme to take away bank customers.

It said the plan is to grant access to more financially excluded people.

The regulator said this in details published on the website of the country’s digital currency which went live on Monday ahead of its launch on October 1.

It said the eNaira opens up a whole new market of digital currency users for financial institutions to increase their customer base and add value to their account owners.

The bank provided details of of how the digital currency will affect individuals, businesses, governments and nongovernmental organisations.

Here are the explanations the CBN gave:

Financial Institutions
“Integral to the establishment of eNaira is the necessity to build more synergy with financial institutions. The framework of eNaira is such that it entrenches many pipelines of collaboration and further strengthens financial institutions core service delivery. By its very nature with regards to its mandates, eNaira enhances the structures of these institutions instead of replacing same.

“eNaira opens up a whole new market of digital currency users for financial institutions to increase their customer base and add value to their account owners.

“Financial Institutions act as bridges between customers and the CBN, this increased customer interaction can help them adopt better customer support models.

“eNaira is not a subtle scheme to steal your customers. It is a collaboration to grant access to more financially excluded people.

“eNaira gives every linked financial institution access to the database of customers with wallets domiciled in their banks.

“eNaira Maximum Daily Cumulative Limit restricts customers from total migration which result in a capital loss for financial institutions.

“The eNaira system is designed and integrated with the best fraud management system, which guarantees the security of transactions and fosters customers’ trust”.

Individuals
“For individuals, eNaira promises fast transactions, cheap diaspora remittance, direct government aids, easier local payment, and secure banking.

“eNaira was minted with your expectations in mind. We understand our customers are real people whose needs are constantly evolving so our approach to delivering tailored solutions needs to constantly evolve. From functionality, call to action, to user interface, our goal has always been to deliver an exceptional digital experience tailored to your needs.

“eNaira makes diaspora payments cheap and safe to ensure you get more value for every Naira you earn.

“Financial Government Aids gets straight to you. eNaira knocks the middlemen out the way and you can claim funds directly.

“The faster, the better. eNaira makes it possible to send funds, save money, and save time while at it.

“Boycott the queues and pay taxes, and bills from the comfort of your home. It’s easier and it’s dependable

“Worried about the safety and security of banking details? Rest assured; the transparency makes everything traceable.

“Now there’s enough room for everyone to enjoy banking services. The process is easy and the process is simple.

For Government
“Through a reduction in cash handling costs and more transparent taxing systems, eNaira makes more funds available for development projects such as better feeder roads, affordable education, and more equipped health facilities. Spending eNaira, will make for richer Government and richer people.

“eNaira creates easy access to financial services at remote areas that have suffered financial exclusion for years

“With eNaira, tax evasion is history because eNaira ensures the traceability of taxable assets and enforces transparency in the taxation systems thereby increasing revenue.

“eNaira enables the government to send direct welfare allowance to citizens and communities that are beneficiaries of such interventions.

“eNaira facilitates instant cross-border foreign exchange which boosts the economic growth of the nation.

“eNaira greatly reduces the costs of handling cash, from minting all the way to destruction, the Federal government saves cost

“eNaira minimizes fraudulent activities and shady deals such as money laundering, and illegal money deals because of the trackable unique ID of each eNaira.

For Non-Governmental Organisations
“The transparent nature of the currency also benefits Non-Governmental Organisations, donations can be made easily, and easy tracking of usage.

“eNaira offers local and international Non-Governmental Organizations and Religious Institutions money transaction solutions that ensure that, at the end of the day, their focus is trained more on carrying out their projects than on the security and usage of the money backing each project. This is because the confidence that the money will do exactly what it was purposed to do, even faster, cheaper, and safer than previously obtainable is what eNaira offers.

“International NGOs can now send and receive donations and contributions across countries with a faster, easier, cheaper, and safer method than previously obtainable, without the old hassles of rigorous money transfer bottlenecks.

“Community and Aid project beneficiaries do not have to wait so long to receive what has been promised them anymore. Once the beneficiary owns an eNaira wallet, all aid goes straight from the wallet of the NGO to the wallet of the beneficiary in seconds.

“Religious institutions now have a cleaner and more direct means of gathering collections by members, eliminating the costs and risks of cash handling.

“Micro-donations are now so much more possible for welfare projects, whereby, denominational limits are not placed on what can be donated, giving all cadres of donors a chance to give in situations where “looking for transaction balances” would have deterred them.

“Expense-tracking and report-development for social projects for NGOs have become nearly automated with eNaira, as the traceability of each eNaira ensures that balancing ledgers and knowing the exact identity of the recipient of each eNaira occurs at near-real-time and in tandem with the very transfer of funds itself.

“NGOs and Religious institutions do not have to worry about cases where hired project managers abscond with money set aside for welfare projects when they use eNaira, as forgery and counterfeiting of eNaira units is impossible due to its unique identity and the fortified security backing its Distributed Ledger System.”

For Businesses
For businesses, eNaira promises to help customers pay for their services with ease.

“eNaira helps your customers pay for your services with such ease that keeps them coming back. With eNaira, your customer base spreads beyond the shores of Nigeria because overseas payment is not just possible but fast and even cheap. The more the patronage, the more profit!

“eNaira makes it easier for you to get support allowance from the government because the CBN has your wallet information and can make direct deposits on behalf of the government.

“eNaira gives your customers a super-easy payment option through its QR Code Scan feature and it makes them keep coming back.

“eNaira promotes efficient and straightforward cross-border payments which foster profitable foreign business partnerships.

“eNaira peer-to-peer payment feature facilitates a boost in eCommerce and gives the in-mall experience to friends physically separated by distance.

“eNaira opens up a whole new customer base you did not know existed, with the increased customers, business growth is guaranteed.

“With eNaira businesses can easily make sales in any country because the eNaira is 100percent local and 100percent global,” the CBN said.

Heritage Bank MD tasks govt on policies to support private sector interventions for infrastructure growth

…Cart away duo Platinum awards

L-R: Blaise Udunze, Team Lead Media and External Relations of Heritage Bank Plc; former Managing Director of Bank of Industry, Waheed Olagunju and the Chairman of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Titus Nwokoji, during the duo Platinum Awards presented to Ifie Sekibo and Heritage Bank for Outstanding Support towards FICAN and Financial Reporting, respectively at the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria’s (FICAN) 30th-anniversary conference and awards with the theme: “Financing Infrastructure & SMEs for inclusive growth in the post-COVID-19 economy,” held in Lagos, weekend

The MD/CEO of Heritage Bank Plc, Ifie Sekibo has called on governments to provide enabling policies that would support private sector interventions to achieve the vision of infrastructural development.

He made this submission at the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria’s (FICAN) 30th-anniversary conference and awards with the theme: “Financing Infrastructure & SMEs for inclusive growth in the post-COVID-19 economy,” held weekend in Lagos, where the bank carted away duo Platinum Awards presented to Ifie Sekibo and Heritage Bank for Outstanding Support towards FICAN and Financial Reporting, respectively.

Sekibo who was represented by Olusegun Akanji, Divisional Head, Strategy and Business Solutions, argued that the government cannot solve the country’s infrastructure challenges, noting that it is the private sector that will deliver the solution.
According to him, the government can only provide enabling policies that will support private sector interventions.

“We need the global private sector intervention to help us achieve a vision of infrastructural development,” he said.
He noted that until the country developed an identity management system that delivers value to the citizenry, SMEs will continue to grapple with financing challenges.

He explained that though the banking industry has financed a lot of SMEs in terms of count, that it is the sector that has the largest numbers of bad loans and frauds in terms of count.

MD of FMDQ Group, Bola Koko represented by Yomi Osinubi, Head Private Market, urged Nigeria to conceive a way its domestic capital market could fund the international capital market.

L-R: Titus Nwokoji, Chairman of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria; Olusegun Akanji, Divisional Head, Strategy and Business Solutions of Heritage Bank Plc and former Chairman of FICAN and Deputy Business Editor of Vanguard, Babajide Komolafe, during the duo Platinum Awards presented to Ifie Sekibo and Heritage Bank for Outstanding Support towards FICAN and Financial Reporting, respectively at the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria’s (FICAN) 30th-anniversary conference and awards with the theme: “Financing Infrastructure & SMEs for inclusive growth in the post-COVID-19 economy,” held in Lagos, weekend

That, he said, was the only way that we could pluck the infrastructure rewards.

“If we want to pluck our infrastructure rewards, first of all we have to conceive of a way our domestic capital market can actually fund capital market.

“But the investors in debt capital market international and debt, money will come into an environment where capital is expected and there is an expectation of good management of those resources and cash flows will come back to it.

“So I think there’s the issue of maybe an underlying structure where we want to put in capital like road infrastructure tax payment.

” If you want SMEs to get the best benefits of infrastructure development in the country, the CBN Governor mentioned the largest areas of course for SMEs which is energy. The second largest is the logistics, movements of cargo around the country,” he said.

Executive Commissioner, Temidayo Obisan representing the Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),Lamido yuguda advised that the nation connected the right duration of money which according to him would be long-term. “The major thing to identify is that infrastructure is a long-term thing, so it Is essential we connect the right duration of money which is long term capital which is what capital market provides and which sec as a regulator should.

“We have about three surviving infrastructure focus funds in Nigeria now that are totalling almost a 100bn, itching about 90 billion at the moment and there are some that are registered programmes of 200billion,” he said.

More so, the Chairman of FICAN, Titus Chima Nwokoji, said if Nigeria’s infrastructural gap, which is estimated to be N36 trillion annually, is addressed, a lot of the country’s economic challenges will be easily tackled.

“And coming out of COVID-19 pandemic, we know that if the infrastructure is fixed and SMEs thrive, the growth that you see will be faster,” he added.

UBA Foundation’s National Essay Competition(NEC) 2021 Ready to Receive Digital Applications

+ Portal for NEC 2021 Opens…Prizes increase in value by 33%

UBA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced the commencement of the 2021 edition of its annual National Essay Competition (NEC) in Nigeria with a call for entries.

The National Essay Competition (NEC) is part of UBA Foundation’s education initiative which is aimed at promoting literacy and encouraging healthy and intellectual competition amongst senior secondary school students in Nigeria and across the African continent.

This year’s edition, which is its 11^th, has been modified to ensure ease of access and the increased participation of students from Senior Secondary School across Nigeria, who can submit their entries from the comfort of their homes and schools through the UBAF NEC digital submission portal www.ubagroup.com/national-essay-competition.

Like the previous year, the prizes for the NEC 2021 winners have increased in value considerably by 33%. The first prize winner will receive an educational grant of N3 million to study at any African university of their choice, up from the N2.5 million in 2020. The second and third prizes now stand at N2.5 million and N2 million educational grants respectively. Winners of the 12 best essays will also go home with state-of-the-art Laptops to help them with their tertiary research work and other studies.

The Chief Executive Officer, UBA Foundation, Mrs. Bola Atta, said that the Foundation scaled up the prizes for the second year in a row in order to accommodate the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and also the fluctuation in the currency levels.

She explained that with the digital submission portal, more students in secondary schools across the country will have the opportunity to scan and send in their entries and compete to win educational grants for study at any university of their choice on the African continent.

“At UBA Foundation, it is imperative that our programmes continue to impact lives in meaningful ways. We realise that the use of technologically driven initiatives is part of the modern day. We want to be able to reach the students where they are and this is mostly online. The digital portal for online submission has made it more comfortable for students to send in their applications and compete with ease. For those who do not have access to computers or data, we are going to make this competition inclusive by allowing them access to any UBA branch near them to submit their entries digitally. Every student who wishes to, will be able to enter for the NEC 2021 and stand a chance to win a fully funded University education through the UBA Foundation’ said Atta.

The essay topic for this year is: “What is the role of technology in educating the African Youth?” All essays must be handwritten and students have up until October 29, 2021 to upload the scanned copies of their handwritten entries as well as their IDs on the digital portal at www.ubagroup.com/national-essay-competition. No physical copies will be accepted this year.

The submissions will be evaluated by judges who are professors from reputable Nigerian Universities. These judges select the top 12 finalists who will take home consolation prizes including personal computers. The 12 finalists will write another supervised essay where the top three winners will be announced at the grand finale to be held on November 30^th at UBA’s head office in Lagos, Nigeria.

The UBA Foundation’s National Essay Competition has been rolled out in 4 other countries where UBA operates, with plans in place to cover 19 African countries in the next couple of years.

UBA Foundation embodies the UBA Group’s CSR objectives and seeks to impact positively on societies through several laudable projects and initiatives. The Foundation through its Education pillar, has donated hundreds of thousands of books to students across Africa under the ‘Read Africa’ initiative aimed at encouraging and promoting the reading culture in African youths.

Students can apply for the National Essay Competition 2021 at: www.ubagroup.com/national-essay-competition

Ecobank Nigeria MD Makes Case For Eurobond Market

The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has described Federal Government’s plan for a Eurobond issuance in the International Capital Market (ICM) as a step in the right direction, stressing that the fundamentals and potentials of the nation’s economy are strong with capacity to meet its debt obligations. The Ecobank boss, who was assessing the global market as Nigeria makes its announcement of multibillion dollar Eurobond offering, during an interview on Arise TV Lagos, said the economy is showing strong trends owing to investments in infrastructure such as road and rail transportation which is giving a lot of positive impact to the overall economy, adding that the private sector is also making remarkable improvement in power sector, telecoms, and information technology.

According to him, “You look at the fundamentals, what is the story of this economy? You look at Nigeria, the fundamentals are strong, coming from the lessons learnt in being a mono product economy which was dependent on oil. We have since embarked on the journey of diversification and we are beginning to show early fruits. Exports are improving, Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

provides the opportunity to expand that even further. So, you look at the fundamentals, look at the openness of the economy, the transparency of reporting and look at the opportunities to enhance real growth, output, capacity improvements and stability of policies. All these are factors to look at with a view of participating in the economy like that of Nigeria.”

He observed that international borrowing will allow Nigeria as a country to access more foreign currencies, deepen external reserve, allows more confidence in the medium-term planning in the private sector, adding that it allows a bench mark to be established in terms of how funding and investment are priced within the local economy. “It also gives more rooms for the local economy to be able to breathe a bit more because when the country takes on Euro bond that portion is reduced from local country financing or public sector debt within the country. All these factors play strongly to the benefit of the private sector and the entire economy at large.”

“In the last two quarters, we have seen the global market rebounding from the very deep end of the covid-19 that plagued 2020. We have seen, since the arrival of vaccines, the gradual opening of the global economy such that there is much more optimism now in the market because we have learnt that shutting down the economy is not the best way to handle an epidemic and we have seen support from sovereigns ensuring that there is steady growth within the various economies; supply chain has opened and we have seen in sub-Sahara Africa renewed interest in the Eurobond market in the international debt market; we have seen Benin republic, Ghana, Cote d’ivoire and Kenya all are approaching the market with significant success. Over subscription in each of them ranges from 200% to 300% and an all high in Kenya close to 600% or six times over subscription. This is a positive period for major economies like Nigeria, which is the lead economy in Africa, to take advantage and invite the global community to hear our story, invest in us and get good returns.”

Citing example with Ecobank’s $300 million Eurobond offer earlier in the year which was over-subscribed by 300 per cent, Akinwuntan advised those approaching international debt market to have clarity of purpose and state clearly their strengths and weaknesses. “We are the first banking entity in Africa to do that in 2021 and it comes from our long-term planning in the economy of Africa; we are the pan African bank and when we look at Africa, Nigeria is a major player. Quickly we understood that arising from a scenario of pandemic and all-time lows of 2020 is time to look at the brighter side and we stepped out for the $300m US Eurobond offer which met positive response from investors across the globe within the country. Ecobank attracted more than 3 times in subscription. But we kept to the book of doing $300m because it is based on our plan in participating in positioning Nigeria, as the leading export country in the AFCTCA environment in the continent and giving our unique position as the Pan African bank, it was very clear to us and the market responded positively. Our experience also tells us that, what is critical is to have clarity on your strength, be very frank about your weakness or the areas of concern and how you intend to handle that positively.”

FIRSTBANK EXPANDS ITS INTERNATIONAL MONEY TRANSFER NETWORK, REINFORCES ITS COMMITMENT TO CUSTOMER SERVICE.

In furtherance of the need to expand diaspora remittance inflow into the country, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has increased its network of International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs), targeted at easing the accessibility of its customers to receive money from close to 100 countries across the world in a safe and secured manner. With over 750 branches across the country, customers can receive money from the nearest FirstBank branch closest to them.

Over the years, FirstBank has been in partnership with Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria, Transfast, and WorldRemit. The bank is also in partnership with other IMTOs which include Wari, Smallworld, Sendwave, Flutherwave, Funtech, Thunes and Venture Garden Group to promote remittance inflow into the country, thereby putting Nigerians and residents at an advantage in receiving money from their families, friends and loved ones across the world.

Beneficiaries can receive remittance in US dollars in any of our over 750 branches spread across the country. Customers without an existing domiciliary account can have dollar account automatically created for their remittances. You can also receive inflow directly into your account through Western Union.

In addition, FirstBank has launched its wholly owned remittance platform named First Global Transfer product to promote the international transfer of funds across its subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa. These subsidiaries include FBNBank DRC, FBNBank Ghana, FBNBank Gambia, FBNBank Guinea, FBNBank Sierra-Leone, FBNBank Senegal.

Reiterating the Bank’s resolve in promoting diaspora remittances, regardless of where one is across the globe, the Deputy Managing Director, Mr Gbenga Shobo said “at FirstBank, expanding our network of International Money Transfer Operators is in recognition of the significant roles diaspora remittances play in driving economic growth such as helping recipients meet basic needs, fund cash and non-cash investments, finance education, foster new businesses and debt servicing.

We are excited about these partnerships, as it is essential to ensure our customers are at an advantage to receive money from their loved ones and business associates, anywhere they are, across the world.”

FirstBank pioneered international funds transfer and remittances over 25 years ago and has been at the forefront of promoting cross border payments in the country, having started the journey with Western Union Money Transfer. The Bank’s wealth of experience and operation in over 750 locations nationwide gives it the edge in the market.

FrieslandCampina Celebrates 150 Years of Grass-to-Glass Dairy Cooperative

FrieslandCampina celebrates 150 years of grass-to-glass dairy Cooperative

From left, Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Mrs. Ore Famurewa; Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr. Michel Deelen; Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Obafemi Kadri Hamzat; Managing Director, FrieslandCampina Sub-Saharan Africa Cluster, Mr. Ben Langat; and Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo

Global dairy cooperative, FrieslandCampina has flagged off series of activities to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Starting from its international headquarters in The Netherlands Wednesday 8 September, the dairy giant hoisted its anniversary flag simultaneously in all the production locations of FrieslandCampina across the world, including Nigeria.

Ore Famurewa, Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, FrieslandCampina WAMCO who announced the flag off ceremony to the media in Lagos explained that the history of FrieslandCampina as a dairy cooperative dates back to 1871 when some farmers established the ‘Vereeniging tot Ontwikkeling van den Landbouw in Hollands Noorderkwartier’ (Association for Agricultural Development in Hollands Noorderkwartier).

She said, “This association is the oldest legal predecessor of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A. In 1872, 20 farmers in the Dutch village of Wieringerwaard in North Holland, decided to collaborate. The farmers bought a building, two cheese tubs and a weighing scale. They appointed a cheesemaker, and the first official cooperation of farmers was established.

“In the village of Warga in Friesland, a group of farmers united also formed another cooperative. After many mergers, these cooperatives finally resulted in FrieslandCampina. Today, the dairy industry is one of the Netherlands’ most important industrial sectors” Famurewa explained.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Managing Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO and sub-Saharan Cluster, Mr. Ben Langat, said “Today, we share our history because we believe it is significant to encourage enterprise, promote collaboration and drive continued investment across the dairy industry.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, the company brands such as Peak, Bonnet Rouge, Three Crowns and Omela are household names with strong brand reputation. We have championed the dairy sector development with the formation of cooperatives for Nigerian farmers to pool milk into our collection points. This in turn is collected to our factory and these are learnings from the experience of our Company’s 150 years knowledge in dairy industry” Langat said.

Hein Schumacher, CEO of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V in a statement he made in the Netherlands said, “The company is built on 150 years of cooperative knowledge and experience. Its foundations consist of family businesses that have been members of the current cooperative and its legal predecessors for many generations. We have enterprising farmers working together daily to provide millions of consumers throughout the world with the goodness of milk, from grass to glass. I am really proud of this.”

Also speaking at the flag-off ceremony in the Netherlands, Erwin Wunnekink, Chairman of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A. said, “Our ancestors already knew that together we are strong. That was true in those days and it still is. It is the core of our identity. We have been successful in new markets by working together. We initially did this close to home in the cities, then just across the borders and eventually, all over the world. Almost all the people in the world know our cheeses and our infant nutrition. With almost 17,000 members, FrieslandCampina is one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the world. This cooperation has made us really successful.”

Sekibo Urges Govt., Stakeholders to Prioritise SMEs, Youth Entrepreneurship

Sekibo urges govt., stakeholders to prioritise SMEs, youth entrepreneurship

L-R: Preye Ojeme, Heritage Bank’s Experience Centre Manager, Maitama, Abuja; Daniel Oniko Regional Head Abuja 1; Dr. Bayo Olugbemi, President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria; Isaiah Ediae, Experience Centre Manager, Algiers Wuse; Dab Okosun, staff of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and Efehi Cole, Experience Centre Manager, Garki, during the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) with a theme: “Economic Recovery, Inclusion & Transformation: The Role of Banking and Finance,” held in Abuja.

Bridging the gap to attain sustainable solutions to economic recovery will be the most impactful route to drive lasting and meaningful growth; for this to be achieved, creation of opportunities, conscious inclusion of Small and Medium Enterprises and youth entrepreneurship are crucial – Sekibo.

MD/CEO of Heritage Bank Plc, Ifie Sekibo gave this submission on the sidelines of the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) with a theme: “Economic Recovery, Inclusion & Transformation: The Role of Banking and Finance.”

According to him, one of the key areas where government, financial institutions and other stakeholders can move this nation from poverty to prosperity is through conscious creation of viable environment for small businesses and young entrepreneurs to thrive because they are the backbone of local economies around the world – they happen to be the biggest employers, job creators and contributors of the national gross domestic products.

“We cannot talk about moving from poverty to prosperity without taking SMEs very seriously in this country.

“We must support the SMEs sector reform through providing infrastructure, providing loans to farmers and ensuring interest rate loans is single digit,” Ifie Sekibo affirmed.

Sekibo who was represented at the conference by the Regional Head Abuja-1, Daniel Oniko, stated that giving SMEs and young entrepreneurs leverage to contribute immensely to the development of their host community through engaging the youths and unemployed individuals will bring about and facilitate economic recovery. He emphasized that the role of SMEs in creating and sustaining national development in relation to job creation has been considered a key tool in modern-day poverty alleviation, economic emancipation, and total well-being.

The MD, however disclosed, “One of Heritage Bank’s major cardinal point as a bank is supporting micro, small and medium scale businesses and our

L-R: Edison Okoro, Heritage Bank’s Experience Centre Manager, Herbert Macaulay, Abuja; Dr. Uche Olowo; Immediate past President/Chairman of Council, CIBN; Daniel Oniko Regional Head Abuja 1; Isaiah Ediae, Experience Centre Manager, Algiers Wuse and Blessing Eyo, Heritage Bank’s Experience Centre Associate, during the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) with a theme: “Economic Recovery, Inclusion & Transformation: The Role of Banking and Finance,” held in Abuja.

strong desire to see young men and women succeed in any area of their business. This will help the society and economy to grow, thereby moving the nation from poverty to prosperity, he added. He noted that Heritage Bank was taking the lead through various initiatives such as its youth entrepreneurship development programmes which were aimed at increasing the contributions of the MSME segment to the economy.

Sekibo further explained that the entrepreneur schemes of the bank in the support for business had always focused on dependable job-creating sectors such as the agricultural value chain: fish farming, poultry, snail farming, etc., cottage industry, mining and solid minerals, creative industry: tourism, arts and crafts, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).Speaking earlier, the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said emerging challenges require that the banking and finance sector takes on more transformative projects such as housing and renewable energy.

The VP acknowledged that the banking and finance sector has over the years played significant roles in the nation’s economic development. According to the Vice President, “it is time for the sector to take on some of the transformative big-ticket items that would fundamentally transform our economy. Such matters include consumer finance but housing finance.

“In his goodwill message, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele stated that the banking sector remained well positioned to support the recovery efforts of the monetary and fiscal authorities. “Clearly, Nigeria’s banks have become not only strong and resilient but have also carved a good niche in the world to consolidate on the growth and resilience of the banks in the last decades”, he added.

Commitment to Customer Service Translates to Financial Gains – UBA GMD

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Kennedy Uzoka, has said that the bank recorded significant improvement in its operational and financial performance as a result of its unending commitment towards delivering products and services aimed at meeting customers’ demands.

Uzoka said this during the Investors/Analysts Conference Call at the bank’s head office in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday September 16, 2021, following the release of its results for the half year ended June 30, 2021.

UBA delivered a 33.4% appreciation in its profit before tax which rose to N76.2bn as at June 2021, up from N57.1bn recorded in the same period of 2020, translating to an annualised Return on Average Equity of 17.5% as against 14.4% a year earlier. Profit after tax grew to N60.6bn representing a significant rise by 36.3% compared to N44.4bn recorded in 2020, while gross earnings grew to N316bn from N300.6bn as at June 2020; a 5.1% growth

This feat was recorded despite the challenging business and economic environment that emerged from the slow pace of activities following the global lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The GMD expressed optimism that the bank is on the trajectory of achieving and even surpassing its targets for the financial year, adding that its focus on delighting its customers remains at the forefront of all its activities.

He said, “We are very committed to prudent and responsible growth of our risk assets, quality of our balance sheet and the overall health of the bank. We will continue to balance our growth appetite with the need to maintain very good healthy portfolio of our assets.

“Our customer first philosophy remains our guiding strategy. We want to assure you of positive customer experience for all our customers. In addition, we would like to deliver our banking services only from the standpoint of our customers. And indeed, as we say at UBA, our customers are our ultimate employers,” Uzoka explained.

Whilst expressing optimism that the Nigerian economy and the broader economy will continue to recover and rebound from the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the remaining quarter of 2021 and all the way into 2022, the GMD assured the investors and participants of the bank’s commitment to maintain professionalism and continue to ensure strict compliance with the rules and regulations guiding our operations in all our presence countries. “With the trusted commitment of all our great and wonderful employees, board and management, we will continue to match towards actualising our enterprise goals,” he noted.

UBA’s Chief Financial Officer, Ugo Nwaghodoh, who spoke on the bank’s significant geographical diversification across key economies in Africa and beyond, noted that UBA recorded impressive growth in interest incomes and net incomes, with steady growth in funding and deposits from customers.

He pointed out that even as the operating environment remains largely uncertain and volatile, despite marked improvement from Covid-19 induced macroeconomic stress, UBA will continue to build resilience through its geographically diversified business model to support headline earnings growth for the Group.

“We remain committed to our 18% and 15% respective RoAE and deposit growth guidance for FY 2021, as we continue to invest in growth opportunities across our geographies of operation, whilst managing capital and balance sheet prudently,” Nwaghodoh said.

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than twenty five million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 20 African countries. With presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, 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.