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Business Economy News

CBN Floats Each BDC With $10k, Warns Against Selling Above  N1,269/$ 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sold $10,000 to each   Bureau De Change (BDC) operators at the rate of N1,251/$1.

Threatening sanctions against any breaches of its its directive, the apex bank in a statement issued by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Hassan Mahmud, warned  BDCs not to sell the dollars at a rate which exceeds 1.5 per cent above the purchase price; that is,  N1,269 per dollar.

The statement read;  “We refer to our letter to you referenced TED/DIR/CON/GOM/001/071 in respect of the above subject wherein the CB approved a second tranche of sale of FX to eligible BDCs.

“We write to inform you of the sale of $10,000 to each BDC at the rate of N1,251/$1. The BDCs are to sell to eligible end users at a spread of not mora than 1.5 per cent above the purchase price.

“ALL eligible BDCs are directed to make the Naira payment to the underlisted CBN Naira Deposit Account Numbers before close of business on Thursday March 28, 2024, and submit confirmation of payment, with other necessary documentation, for disbursement at the appropriate CBN Branches.

“Please note that any BDC that breaches above terms shall be sanction appropriately, including outright suspension from further participation in the sale.”

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Business News

US Sues Apple To Court Over iPhone Monopoly

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ), supported by 17 states, has initiated a lawsuit against Apple Inc., alleging that the tech giant illegally sustained its iPhone monopoly, squelching competition and foisting high costs upon consumers.

This legal action announced on Thursday, brings Apple into a direct confrontation with federal authorities, a scenario that has been largely avoided by the Cupertino-based company since its inception by Steve Jobs.

At the lawsuit’s core is the operation of Apple’s App Store.

The government accuses Apple of imposing rigorous and occasionally obscure conditions on businesses and developers eager to access its significant US user base, estimated at 136 million. These practices, the lawsuit contends, are designed to lock consumers within Apple’s ecosystem, coercing them into continuous purchases of its premium hardware products.

“Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate the antitrust laws”, said Attorney General Merrick Garland, emphasizing the risk of an unassailable smartphone monopoly if Apple’s purported practices remain unopposed.

In response, Apple has vehemently denied the allegations, asserting its compliance with the law and vowing a strong defense against the lawsuit.

The company warned that a ruling against it could create a “dangerous precedent”, allowing for undue government influence over technology design.

The complaint delves into specific practices that purportedly enrich Apple at the expense of innovation and consumer choice. It highlights Apple’s alleged efforts to stifle the development of “Super Apps,” which could offer diverse services in competition with Apple’s offerings.

The lawsuit also targets Apple Wallet’s exclusivity in tap payment technologies on the iPhone, compelling competitors to incur fees.

Furthermore, it scrutinizes Apple’s practices that ostensibly complicate messaging between iPhone and Android users, nudging consumers towards the pricier iPhone.

This extensive legal battle also examines Apple’s dominance in various sectors, including web browsing, entertainment, and automotive services, as the company seeks to diversify its revenue streams amid slowing iPhone sales growth.

Despite these challenges, Apple’s financial prowess remains unmatched, with global sales reaching $383 billion and net profits at $97 billion in 2023, positioning it at the apex of the Fortune 500 and surpassing the GDP of over 100 nations.

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Business Economy News

We Have Settled All Verified FX Backlog – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that all valid foreign exchange backlogs have now been settled, fulfilling a key pledge of the CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, to process an inherited backlog of US$7 billion in claims.

This was disclosed by the Bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, in Abuja on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

She noted that the CBN recently concluded the payment of $1.5 billion to settle obligations to bank customers, effectively settling the residual balance of the FX backlog.

Mrs Hakama also disclosed that independent auditors from Deloitte Consulting meticulously assessed these transactions, ensuring that only legitimate claims were honoured.

Any invalid transactions were promptly referred to the relevant authorities for further scrutiny, she added.

At a recent meeting, Governor Cardoso declared: “We made clearing the FX backlog a priority to restore credibility and confidence in the Nigerian economy. It was important that we go through an independent and credible process that would determine the authenticity of those obligations, and, at this point,

“I can tell you that we have now cleared all genuine, verifiable transactions. This encumbrance to market confidence in the country’s ability to meet its obligations is now totally behind us.”

Clearance of the foreign exchange transactions backlog is part of the overall strategy detailed in last month’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting to stabilise the exchange rate and thereby curb imported inflation, spurring confidence in the banking system and the economy.

Cardoso used the MPC meeting and a subsequent conference call with foreign portfolio investors to set expectations for sustained increases in Nigeria’s foreign currency reserves and improved liquidity in the foreign exchange market.

The CBN followed this month by reporting a significant increase in external reserves, rising by $993 million to $34.11 billion as of March 7, 2024, the highest level in eight months.

The month-on-month increase was driven by a marked advance in remittance payments by Nigerians overseas, as well as higher purchases of local assets, including government debt securities, by foreign investors.

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Business News

Zenith Bank Appoints First Female GMD/CEO Dame Adaora Umeoji

 Zenith Bank Plc has announced the appointment of Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji, as its  Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer; making her the first female to lead the bank since its inception

The appointment which takes effect from June 1, 2024, is subject to approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Dr. Umeoji takes over from Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, whose five-year term expires on May 31, 2024, after a very successful tenure.

In a statement on Tuesday, Zenith Bank said her appointment is consistent with the its executive transition tradition, succession plan, and strategy of grooming leaders from within.

DIPLOMATIC DIARY reports that before the new appointment, Dr. Umeoji has been the Deputy Managing Director of the bank since October 28, 2016 and has close to thirty (30) years cognate banking experience of which twenty-six (26) years has been with Zenith Bank.

An alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Business School where she attended the Advanced Management Program (AMP) and an alumnus of Columbia Business School with a Certificate in the Global Banking Program, Dr. Umeoji  holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Jos, a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a First-Class honors in Law from Baze University, Abuja. 

She also  holds a Master of Laws from the University of Salford, United Kingdom, a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Calabar, and also, a doctorate in business administration from Apollos University, USA.

Dr. Umeoji  holds a Certificate in Economics for Business from the prestigious MIT Sloan School of Management, USA, and has attended various management programmes in renowned Universities around the world including the strategic thinking and Management programme at Wharton Business School, USA. 

She also attended the executive program in Strategic Management, and has a Certificate in Leading Global Business all from Harvard Business School, USA.

Dr. Umeoji is a fellow of notable professional bodies including the Chartered Banker Institute, UK, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Management, Institute of Credit Administration, Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Nigeria, Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators, and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria among others.

In 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria honored Dr. Umeoji with Officer of the Order of the Niger, as a recognition of her contributions to nation building. She is a Peace Advocate of the United Nations (UN-POLAC).

She has impacted many lives through her philanthropic and humanitarian activities through her NGOs; Pink Breathe Cancer Foundation and the Adorable Foundation that educates, caters for Cancer patients and indigent children education especially the Girl-Child. Her contribution to humanity was recognized by the Sun Newspaper which recently bestowed on her the Humanitarian Service Icon Award for 2023.

As a result of her passion for promoting professionalism in the banking industry and improving the well-being of the less privileged, Dr. Adaora Umeoji, OON founded the Catholic Bankers Association of Nigeria (CBAN), a platform she uses to promote ethical banking and service to humanity.

She is a Lady of the Order of Knights of St. John International (KSJI), and was awarded a Papal Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester by His Holiness Pope Francis.

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Business News

Internet Outage Hit Africa

A major internet outage hit most parts of Africa on Thursday, affecting banking operation and other services.

The outage extends beyond Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea,  Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Liberia Gambia among others, South African internet users also experienced slow speeds and unresponsive internet. 

According to news24, Vodacom confirmed that multiple subsea cable failures between South Africa and Europe were impacting several network providers. Several other submarine cables such as AAE1, EIG,  also suffered outages across Africa.

Netblocks data, said Ivory Coast faced a severe outage, while Liberia, Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso experienced significant impacts. 

Cloudflare, an internet firm, confirmed  major disruptions in Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, and Niger through one of its monitoring accounts.

Cloudflare Radar noted a discernible pattern in the timing of these disruptions, affecting regions from the north to the south of Africa.

Seacom, a South African internet connectivity provider, told its customers that it is experiencing a service-affecting outage via the West African Cable System, a submarine network.

MainOne, a major internet provider for most Nigerian banks and internet providers, also suffered a major fibre cut in Ghana that has knocked many major Nigerian banks offline, according to internal communication sent to bank staff. As a result, customers of major Nigerian banks were unable to access their banking apps or use any USSD service.

 In a communication to its customers on Thursday, Sterling Bank,  said some online banking activities have been “experiencing difficulties”.

 Lemfi, an African remittance startup, also informed customers that it  was experiencing a downtime.

“Traffic is currently being rerouted via alternate paths, with no current congestion. However, services towards Europe from Maputo and South Africa are at risk should the alternate paths fail”, a statement from Seacom said.

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Business News

Access Holdings Announces Return of Aig-Imoukhuede as Non-Executive Chairman 

Access Holdings Plc, has announced the appointment of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede as Non-Executive Chairman of its Board of Directors.

This is coming just a month after the death of the immediate past Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings, Herbert Wigwe.

 Aig-Imoukhuede replaces Abubakar Jimoh, who remains on the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director. 

In a statement on Wednesday, Access Holdings, said, “The decision to bring back Aig-Imoukhuede as the Group’s Non-Executive Chairman reflects the Board’s commitment to our core values and determination to build upon the strong foundation, he jointly established with Dr. Wigwe. 

“With his return, Access Holdings aims to leverage his extensive experience, industry knowledge, and exceptional leadership skills to consolidate on the growth and accomplishments recorded under Dr. Wigwe’s leadership.

“In his new role as Non-Executive Chairman, Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede will collaborate with the Board of Directors to oversee strategy and provide guidance to the executive management team. 

“His return is not only a testament to his unwavering dedication to Access Group but also a clear demonstration of the Board’s confidence in his ability to lead the Group to new heights. 

“With an illustrious career spanning several decades in the banking and finance sector, Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede has proven to be an exceptional and influential leader, having admirably laid a solid foundation for Access Bank’s success as Group Chief Executive Officer between 2002 and 2013 ably supported by his partner and deputy, the late Dr. Herbert Wigwe, CFR who later succeeded him”, it said.

Commenting on his appointment, Jimoh, said,“Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede’s appointment to the Board and subsequent election as Chairman is a landmark development for Access Holdings. All our board members are excited about our future’’.

Accepting the appointment, Aig-Imoukhuede, said: “I am thrilled to be back in active service to the Access Group ecosystem. I am confident that working with our directors, our exceptional team of executives and our best-in-class banking and finance professionals, we will deliver outstanding value to our esteemed stakeholders. I am determined that our shared vision which Dr. Wigwe gave everything for, will be realized”.

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Business News

Bitcoin Hits New Record High Above $71,000 

Bitcoin (BTC) soared above $71,000 on Monday, attaining a new all-time high price of $71,850 across exchanges as investors continued to pump money into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

 Bitcoin has been steadily rising since the approval of the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. The token crossed $70,000 for the first time ever last week. Ether {{ETH}} also crossed $4,000 on Monday. Meanwhile, the broader CoinDesk 20 index (CD20) jumped nearly 1%.

The rally has lifted the annualized three-month futures premium on major exchanges, including Binance, to above 25%. The elevated premium could attract cash and carry traders, boosting overall market liquidity.

Bitcoin’s latest rally has been spurred by the changing supply-demand dynamics of the crypto asset, driven by two main factors: the arrival of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. and the upcoming halving event.

Since their launch in January, Bitcoin ETFs have acquired an additional 177,000 BTC on top of the 621,000 BTC held in Grayscale’s converted GBTC fund. Cumulatively, all the funds have gobbled up 4% of the entire 21 million Bitcoin supply.

At the same time, the highly-anticipated Bitcoin halving event in April is set to alter block rewards from 12.5 BTC per block to 6.25, effectively reducing the amount of Bitcoin entering circulation daily by around 900 BTC.

Founders of newsletter service LondonCryptoClub attributed the price rise to the London Stock Exchange’s decision to accept applications for bitcoin and ether exchange-traded notes (ETNs) and the illiquid Asian market conditions.

“It’s a confluence of factors. Asia is buying in an illiquid market coupled with continued positive news, with the London Stock Exchange just announcing it will take applications for BTC and ETH ETNs. The powerful demand-supply dynamic from the BTC ETFs continues unabated.

“Meanwhile, the macro, which had been a headwind, has now become a tailwind as U.S. rates and the dollar appear to have topped out and are turning lower. Additionally, as we approach key resistance levels, short-term speculative traders trying to call a top, short into these key levels and then get liquidated, causing a pseudo negative gamma effect which propels us higher”, founders said.

Bitcoin’s move to new peaks came even as Asian equity indices slipped, with Japan’s Nikkei and Australia’s ASX falling 2% after a Reuters report said the Bank of Japan could lift the benchmark interest rate above zero this month.

Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority on Monday opened the doors for institutional investors to create crypto asset-backed exchange-traded notes. The London Stock Exchange later confirmed that it would accept applications for bitcoin and ether ETNs in the second quarter of this year.

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Business News

Bitcoin Records New Peak, Hits $69,170.63

Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin saw its price soar to a new all-time high record of $69,170.63 on Tuesday afternoon.

The new pricing exceeded the record high of $68,999.99 set in November 2021.

The development comes as investors began to seriously consider U.S. spot exchange-traded cryptocurrency products due to worries that interest rates could drop globally.

For instance, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT.O), which opens a new tab, received over $2 billion of the $2.2 billion net flows into the top 10 U.S. spot bitcoin funds last Friday, according to LSEG statistics.

In the last 24 hours, the value of bitcoin has fluctuated between an intraday low of $63,460.01 and a high of $69,170.63, according to data posted on coinmarketcap, a website that records real-time market data for digital currencies.

“The bitcoin all-time high marks a turning point for crypto. Traditional institutions were once sitting out; today, they are here in full force as the principal drivers of the crypto bull market”, CEO and co-founder of crypto platform, Anchorage Digital, Nathan McCauley, said.

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Business News

Ghana Central Bank Suspends GTB, First Bank’s FX Trading Licences

The Bank of Ghana has announced the suspension of the Foreign Exchange Trading Licenses of two Nigerian-owned banks, Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana Limited and FBNBank Ghana Limited.

The suspension, effective from March 18, 2024, will last for one month.

This action was taken in response to several breaches of foreign exchange market regulations, including instances of fraudulent documentation within their foreign exchange operations.

The suspension was announced by the Ghanaian apex bank in a statement released on Monday.

The statement read in part: ” The Bank of Ghana has suspended the Foreign Exchange Trading Licences of Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana Limited (GTB) and FBNBank Ghana Limited (FBN), effective 18th March 2024, for a period of one month, in accordance with Section 11 (2) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006, (Act 723).

“This is as a result of various breaches of the foreign exchange market regulations, including fraudulent documentation in their foreign exchange operations which have come to the attention of the Bank of Ghana.

“The licence will be restored at the end of the one-month suspension period once the Bank of Ghana is satisfied that they have put in place effective controls to ensure strict adherence to regulations to the foreign exchange market.”

“This is in strict accordance with Section 11 (2) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006, (Act 723), underscoring the Bank of Ghana’s commitment to maintaining the integrity and stability of the foreign exchange market.

“The suspension serves as a direct consequence of the banks’ failure to comply with established regulations, highlighting the central bank’s zero-tolerance policy towards regulatory non-compliance.”

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Binance Leaves Nigeria, Stops Naira Operations

Binance will discontinue all services for Nigeria’s fiat currency, the Naira, following the ongoing regulatory onslaught on the firm by the Nigerian authorities.

The crypto exchange will automatically convert Naira balances to US Dollar Tether (USDT) from March 8 but will cease support for deposits after today.

Withdrawals will become unsupported after March 8 by 12 noon Nigerian time, a statement sighted by Business Post confirmed.

The conversion rate for automatic conversions will be pegged at N1,515.13 to 1 USDT, according to an announcement from the website.

Other features, including Binance Convert, Binance P2P, the exchange’s Auto Invest feature, and Binance Pay, will also cease support for the Naira.

This development is coming after the government blamed Binance for being responsible for triggering the problems in the Nigeria FX market.

On Monday, the House of Representatives threatened to issue a warrant of arrest on the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Changpeng Zhao, following no response from representatives, who were asked to appear before its committee.

Binance executives had not appeared before the committee because two employees, who were to appear at the meeting, were arrested upon their arrival in Nigeria by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) last week.

Analysts say the fingering of the crypto exchange platform is a desperate move to salvage the value of the Naira, without tackling proper issues.

The Nigerian government says some users have used the Binance platform for criminal activities such as money laundering and currency speculation. They are also accusing the cryptocurrency firm of operating illegally in Nigeria in violation of the country’s laws.

It was also reportedly planning a minimum of $10 billion penalty on Binance for “illegal transactions”, Presidential Spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga told BBC on Friday.