Finance

Banks, Pension Managers, Others Stake N105bn on Sukuk Bond

Published

7 years ago

September 27, 2017

Banks, Pension Managers, Others Stake N105bn on Sukuk Bond

The Islamic sukuk bond recently issued by the Federal Government was oversubscribed by more than N5bn, the Debt Management Office said on Tuesday.

The N100bn seven-year sukuk offered by the Federal Government, which closed on Friday, attracted a subscription of N105,878,320,000, according to a statement issued in Abuja by the DMO.

According to the DMO, the project-tied investment facility attracted investors from across a broad spectrum of the public, including pension funds, banks, fund managers and institutional as well as retail investors.

Reacting to the oversubscription, the Director-General, DMO, Ms Patience Oniha, said that the acceptance of the offer was an indication of the viability of the instrument as an investment option as well as a demonstration of utmost faith in the Nigerian economy.

She commended the Federal Government and, in particular, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, for the policy support that led to the success of the initial offer, which industry watchers accepted as another window that had opened for the government to raise funds to fill the nation’s yawning infrastructure gap.

The DMO said that in the run up to the offer, Nigerians developed tremendous enthusiasm as they embraced the investment instrument advertised nationwide through roadshows by officials from the office; Ministry of Power, Works and Housing; and Central Bank of Nigeria in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja and Kaduna.

The awareness campaign, which drew attention to the projects the sukuk aimed at, including the construction and rehabilitation of 25 roads across the six geopolitical zones, aroused in the investors the patriotic fervour that led to the oversubscription.

The office said, “Investment experts are optimistic that with this issuance, a new instrument, the sovereign sukuk, has been introduced to Nigeria’s capital market, and has added to the variety of products available for domestic issuers and investors.

“A look at the investors that subscribed for the sovereign sukuk revealed that another significant objective was achieved through the participation of over a thousand retail investors from across the nation who accounted for over four per cent of the total subscription.”

With the oversubscription, the DMO said it had been energised to continue with its role of meeting the government’s funding needs as well as introducing new instruments to develop Nigeria’s capital market.

It is hoped that with the success of the offer and the proceeds from it, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing will begin work on the road projects in earnest, the DMO added.

The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing had said that it would allocate about N16.7bn from the fund to the construction of roads in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country.

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Samed Olukoya

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Banking Sector

Increasing Online Fraud Threatens Nigerian Banks’ Survival

Published

32 mins ago

September 30, 2024

Ugwoke Ogbodo

Experts have said that the operations of commercial banks and their continuous existence may be severely affected if the worsening online fraudulent activities against financial institutions are not tackled.

They lamented that even though many commercial banks have increased their spending on technology, including cybersecurity, they still lose billions of naira to fraudsters, especially through their payment channels.

For instance, no fewer than six commercial banks have increased their spendings by 176.09 to N196.89 billion percent in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 to prevent online fraud.

Notwithstanding this step, fraud within the banking halls surged by 589.01 percent during this period.

A recent Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) report revealed that banks suffered a total loss of N43.12 billion due to fraud in H1 2024, a jump from N6.26 billion recorded in H1 2023.

The report showed an 8,993.04 percent increase in fraud-related losses, from N468.49 million in Q1 2024 to N42.6 billion in Q2 2024.

In the period under review, FITC received 80 returns on fraud and forgery cases from 28 deposit money institutions.

Six banks including Access Holdings Plc, the parent company of Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), the owner of GTBank, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Wema Bank, and First City Monument Bank have increased their spendings on IT to the tune of N196billion.

While Access Bank led the way in IT and e-business expenses, spending N111.24 billion — a 265.13 percent increase from N30.47 billion in H1 2023, GTCO’s tech expenses rose 115.09 percent to N36.60 billion from N17.02 billion. Zenith Bank’s IT expenditure climbed 166.29 percent to N23.09 billion, compared to N8.67 billion the previous year. Stanbic IBTC’s expenses grew by 110.95 percent to N15.86 billion from N7.52 billion. FCMB increased its spending by 29.39 percent to N8.97 billion, and Wema Bank’s tech expenses rose by 59.41 percent to N1.13 billion.

Meanwhile, fraud cases continue to rise notwithstanding this huge expenditure.

Already, FITC has reported 23,004 fraud cases in H1 2024 alone.

It disclosed that the most prevalent types of fraud included computer/web fraud, mobile fraud, and POS-related fraud, following trends from 2023 and Q1 2024.

The analysis revealed a rise in fraud losses across all payment channels except for mobile fraud, which saw a decline.

Also, INTERPOL’s May 2024 report emphasised the growing threat of online fraud across Africa.

Expert firms such as FITC have said investment in technology alone would not address the menace as miscellaneous also account for major parts of the fraud.

An expert, Adedeji Olowe, founder and chief executive officer of Lendsqr, said that banks already have the tools to tackle fraud but that these tools are not being put to use.

Similarly, Pwapo of Resilience Technologies noted that overlapping roles within the banking sector create perfect conditions for some fraud types to thrive, adding that all these needed to be tackled to save financial institutions from further losses.

Banking Sector

UBA’s Interest Income Soars 134%, Crosses N1 Trillion Mark in June 2024

Published

9 hours ago

September 30, 2024

Samed Olukoya

The United Bank for Africa (UBA), a leading financial institution in Nigeria and Africa, grew its interest income by 134% from N428.292 billion in the first half (H1) of 2023 to cross the N1 trillion mark in June 2024, according to the bank’s latest financial statement.

In the financial statement obtained by Investors King, Interest income on amortised cost and FVOCI securities also increased to N967.830 billion, a whopping 126.29% from N427.689 billion recorded in the corresponding period.

Similarly, net interest income appreciated 142.6% from N278.113 billion in H1 2023 to N674.618 billion in H1 2024.

Net interest income after impairment on financial instruments stood at N614.406 billion, a 394.8% increase from N124.169 billion filed in H1 2023.

Net fee and commission income rose by 85.3% from 78.296 billion in the same period in 2023 to N145.097 billion in H1 2024.

The leading financial institution’s profit before income tax rose to N401.577 billion while the bank paid N85.217 billion in tax during the period under review.

Profit after tax stood at N316.360 billion.

The bank proposed an interim dividend of N2.00 per share from the retained earnings account as at 30 June 2024.

This proposed interim dividend amounting to a pay-out ratio of 7.3% (30 June 2023:2.9%), and a yield of 8.9%.

Banking Sector

World Bank Approves $1.57 Billion Loan for Nigeria Despite Soaring Debt

Published

10 hours ago

September 30, 2024

Samed Olukoya

Despite Nigeria’s rising debt profile, the Federal Government has received approval from the World Bank for additional loan requests totaling $1.57 billion.

The World Bank said the loan includes $500 million to address issues that constrain quality education and health while $570 million is for the Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Programme.

The remaining $500 million will go to the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project.

As of June, Nigeria has a total public debt of N121 trillion with N65.6 trillion domestic and N56 trillion or $42.1 billion representing the nation’s foreign debt. Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio rose above the 50% mark for the first time in June.

The multilateral financial institution on Monday said the latest fund was approved to support the Federal Government in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents.

Also, it said the approved projects would also help build resilience to the effects of climate change such as floods and drought through improving dam safety and irrigation.

The statement read, “The World Bank has today approved three operations for a total of $1.57bn to support the Government of Nigeria in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents and building resilience to the effects of climate change such as floods and droughts through improving dam safety and irrigation.”

“The HOPE-GOV and HOPE-PHC programmes combined will support the Government of Nigeria to improve service delivery in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors which are critical towards improving Nigeria’s human capital outcomes.

“The SPIN project will support improvement of dams’ safety and management of water resources for hydropower and irrigation in selected areas of Nigeria.

“The HOPE-GOV Programme will support Nigeria to address underlying governance weaknesses in the systems and procedures of government in two key human development sectors,” it noted.