CBN goes tough on e-banking fraud, to blacklist customers

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it is working on a policy that will ensure that bank customers involved in electronic fraud are either blacklisted or placed on close surveillance.
The bank’s Director, Banking and Payment System, Mr. ‘Dipo Fatokun, said this at the October edition of the Nigeria e-Fraud Fraud Forum (NeFF) held in Lagos at the weekend.
Fatokun, who is the chairman of NeFF, said the Bank Verification Number (BVN) would also be used in identifying fraudsters in the industry.
“We are currently working on a framework using the BVN to eliminate fraudsters. One common thing about electronic fraud is that when money is moved from an account, it is moved into another bank account. So, identifying the owner of that fraudulent account using the BVN, we would not only be able to identify him or her in the bank in which he has moved the money to, we would also identify him in all the banks where he has accounts and when legal impediments are overcome, such people could be blacklisted or watchlisted in the banking system.

Senate vows to sustain NLNG’s legacy

The Chairman Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, has promised that his committee will do all in its power to sustain the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited legacy and encourage the entrenchment of the NLNG business model in other parts of the Nigerian economy.
This was contained in a statement on Tuesday by the company’s General Manager, External Relations, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke.
Akpan made the call when he led members of the committee on an oversight visit to the NLNG facility in Bonny on Monday.
Other members of the 11-person Senate team included Senators Bassey Albert Akpan Barnabas Gemade, Rose Oko Okoji, Rilwan Adesoji Akanbi, Danjuma Laah, Francis Alimikhena, Matthew Urhogide and Bubakar Moallahyidi.
They all commended the NLNG model and assured NLNG’s Senior Management of their continued support to promote and sustain the company’s successful operations.
Speaking after a business presentation by the NLNG’s General Manager Production, Tayo Oginni,

Senate approves bill to end business monopolies

The Senate has approved a bill seeking to end all forms of business monopolies in Nigeria and promote trade competition in the 36 states of the federation.
The upper legislative chamber, therefore, approved scrapping of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and ratified its replacement with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
Passing the bill sponsored by Senator Andy Uba (PDP, Anambra South), yesterday, through a second reading, the Senate directed its Committee on Trade and Investment to conclude all legislative work on the issue and report back within four weeks.
The Federal Government, meanwhile, is ecstatic that it’s reforms for instituting a vibrant business environment may have started yielding dividends, as Nigeria’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business remains static, halting a falling trend in the past years.
A statement signed by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, said the latest 2017 report released Tuesday, October 25, and which ranked Nigeria 169

Adeosun opens London Stock Exchange, says Nigeria has low debt-GDP ratio

Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive Officer, London Stock Exchange (LSE); Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, Director General, National Pension Commission (PENCOM); Greg Hands, UK Minister for International Trade; Kemi Adeosun, Honourable Minister of Finance, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Oscar N. Onyema, OON, Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Haruna Jalo-Waziri, Executive Director, Capital Markets Division, NSE at the Opening Bell Ceremony of the London Stock Exchange to kick off the 3rd London and Lagos Capital Markets in Partnership Conference organized by the Nigerian Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange in London on Friday.

Nigeria’s minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Friday opened the London Stock Exchange (LSEG) to celebrate the business ties between Nigeria and UK, while promoting the 3rd ‘London and Lagos Capital Markets in Partnership’ conference.
The minister, who was joined by Greg Hands, a member of the UK parliament and the UK minister of state for international trade, said Nigeria is good for business.
Adeosun, who explained how Nigeria intends to fund its budget deficit, said Nigeria’s low-interest lending rate remains on course. She said the country has a headroom for borrowing, since it has a low debt-to-GDP ratio.
Speaking on Nigeria, Hands said: “I know from my own time in Nigeria that the UK and Nigeria have long enjoyed a close and prosperous business relationship.
“The UK is one of Nigeria’s largest investors and the government is committed to boosting trade between our two countries.
“We are actively helping British companies export to Nigeria and Nigerian businesses to locate

At N300/dollar, no need for fresh devaluation – Emir Sanusi

The Emir of Kano and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Muhammad Sanusi II, has said that the naira, at 300 to a dollar, needs no fresh devaluation.
Sanusi said all the CBN needs to do is to make the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the market liquid, and watch the gap between official and parallel market close, with investors bringing in more forex.
“My public position is that if the Central Bank can improve on its management of foreign exchange, provide liquidity to the parallel market, get a convergence between the BDC rate and the official rate, also keep these yields where they are, that will help to attract the foreign exchange that we need to stabilize in the short term,” he told Daily Trust.
“While I think the naira is undervalued, certainly if you look at the purchasing power parity, when you look at the nominal exchange rates, when you look at the rate of inflation, it stands to agree that even at 300, the naira will be slightly undervalued.

CBN sells $313 million in forward auction

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sold about 313 million Dollars, in a two-month forward auction to clear a backlog of Dollar demand.
This is the third of such auctions since the launch of the forwards market in June 2016.

German firm declines offer to print new Zimbabwe currency

A German company has refused to print Zimbabwe’s controversial new currency forcing President Robert Mugabe’s government to delay its introduction amid worsening cash shortages.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced in May that it will introduce bond notes that will be at par with the United States dollar to address liquidity challenges.
RBZ governor John Mangudya, who initially announced that the notes would be in circulation by October, said a German company had been given the printing contract.
The launch of the ‘surrogate currency’ was moved to next month and on Friday a leading business newspaper in Zimbabwe revealed that the delays were caused by Giesecke and Devrient’s refusal to print the notes.
Giesecke and Devrient printed the Zimbabwe dollar until the country abandoned the currency in 2009 after it was ravaged by 500 billion percent inflation.
The German embassy in Harare confirmed that the company had refused to print the new currency.
“According to the information that we have from the said company, it will not print bond notes for

Wema Bank expends N221m on judiciary archive

Wema Bank Plc has raised support for the Lagos State Government and the Justice Research Institute Limited with N20 million to deliver a world-class archiving service aimed at transforming record management in the Lagos State High Court.
In a bid to address the deteriorating state of the Lagos High Court archives, the Lagos State Judiciary and the Justice Research Institute, a private limited liability company, partnered to create a joint venture, the Lagos Archives and Property Litigation Registry (LAPLR).
Apart from the N20 million funding by Wema Bank, the Bank also granted LAPLR a Project Finance Facility to the tune of N201 million.
The Managing Director of Wema Bank, Segun Oloketuyi, while speaking at the launch of the archives at the Lagos State High Court, noted that the bank identified the need to have a credible source of information on land and property that are subject to litigation in Lagos State, hence the