Category: Business

Union Bank of Nigeria ‘Union Bank’ has been named as the Best Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) bank in Nigeria by Global Finance – a leading financial international publication, in its second annual 2023 SME Bank Awards. Global Finance seeks to help corporate leaders, bankers, and investors chart the course of global business & finance and has become a trusted standard of excellence for banks and their corporate partners. Honorees of the 2023 Best SME Bank Awards have been chosen globally across the following regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Caribbean, Central…

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Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, has distanced herself from the Naira redesign policy fixed for December 15, 2022 by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Minister, who commented on the policy in response to question raised by Senators during the 2023 budget defence session she had with the Senate Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Solomon Olamilekan, warned the CBN of consequences that may arise from the policy. The Senate had told the Finance Minister that barely two days after announcement of the policy by…

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Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (“GTCO” or the “Group”) has released its Unaudited Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements for the period ended September 30, 2022, to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) and London Stock Exchange (LSE). The Group reported profit before tax of ₦169.7billion, representing an increase of 11.7% over ₦151.9billion recorded in the corresponding period ended September 2021. The Group’s loan book (net) increased by 2.2% from ₦1.80trillion recorded as at December 2021 to ₦1.84trillion in September 2022, while deposit liabilities increased by 6.4% from ₦4.13trillion in December 2021…

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Ratings agency Agusto & Co. has upgraded Wema Bank Funding SPV Plc’s (‘’the Issuer’’ or ‘’the SVP’’) Series II Bond (‘‘the Issue’’ or ‘’the Bond’’) to ‘Bbb+’, with a stable outlook, from the previous ‘Bbb’ score. The Issuer is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by Wema Bank Plc (‘’the Bank’’ or ‘‘the Sponsor’’) for the issuance of debt securities. Agusto in its latest rating assessment released on Tuesday said it upgraded the rating of Wema Bank Funding SPV Plc’s Series II ₦17.7 billion seven-year fixed rate bond to…

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), yesterday, announced the introduction of newly redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes, a move interpreted to mark the beginning of a broader currency census and the mop up of black money. At a virtual press briefing, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, admitted the concern over large amounts of money outside the banking system, which is estimated at 80 per cent of the total money in circulation. Emefiele revealed that as of September 2022, N2.73 trillion of N3.23 trillion currency-in-circulation was outside of vaults of commercial…

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In recognition of its efforts to deepen digital payments acceptance for businesses on the continent, the fintech payment product of HabariPay, Squad, has received an award for “Accelerating Digital Acceptance in Africa” at the inaugural session of the Mastercard EDGE 2022. The event was held to recognize outstanding fintech companies and business leaders that are revolutionizing payments in various ecosystems. The Mastercard EDGE – “Envision the Future of Digital, Gateways & e-Commerce Forum” – took place on Wednesday, 12 October 2022, at the Internet City, Dubai. The event hosted tech…

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First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced its variety of retail products specifically designed to enhance the operations and sustenance of various businesses in the country. The products: Petroleum Dealership Finance (PDF), Operational Vehicle Finance (OVF) and Commercial Mortgage will strengthen the capacity of businesses to meet their immediate and long-term needs which are required to continually impact the socio-economic development of the country. Commercial Mortgage (CM) is designed to meet the funding needs of established small and medium-scale enterprises in viable businesses to acquire Business/Office Premises. This product is…

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Wema Bank, Nigeria’s most innovative bank, has announced that the next edition of its quarterly webinar, aimed at assisting the small and medium-scale enterprise (SME) and early-stage start-up segments of its customer base, will hold on Friday, 21 October, 2022 by 10 a.m. Arthur Nkemeh, Head of SME Banking at Wema Bank said the webinar, themed, “From Start-up to Unicorn: Strategies for Sustainably Scaling a Tech Company in Nigeria,” will focus on the strategies that start-ups and SMEs in the tech space in Nigeria can adopt to develop the capacity…

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Booklovers in Lagos were treated to an afternoon of uplifting creative interactions at a book reading event organized by Guaranty Trust Bank (Guaranty Trust) on Sunday, October 9, 2022, at the Herbert Macauley Library, Yaba. The event is an offshoot of Guaranty Trust’s You Read initiative which aims to champion continuous learning and promote a reading culture across Africa as part of its CSR policy. The selected literature for the book reading was, Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad by Damilare Kuku – a work of fiction that…

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