Concerned with the poor corporate governance in key sectors of the economy and its devastating impact on the financial services sector, the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) (NIM) has unveiled plans to convene a stakeholders’ forum soon where the monetary policy of the country will be elaborately discussed with a view to fine-tuning and turning it into a catalytic instrument for rapid transformation of the economy.

For several hundreds of harpless victims of automated teller machine (ATM) frauds in the country, respite appears to have come from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the apex bank has issued directives aimed at making banks in the country liable for payment card frauds. Consequently, the CBN has come up with 7-point agenda for immediate implementation by the banks as a palliative measure to reduce customers’ exposure to card-related risks.

Against the backdrop of a huge infrastructure deficit and paucity of funds in the country, Tola Akinmutimi reports that the bonds market offers unlimited opportunities for both private firms and governments to source for the funds needed to build the bridges required to cross the deep river of poverty in the land.

Micro credit takers in the country have charged microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other financial intermediation operating entities in the country to put in place more liberal guidelines that will make access to micro credit less cumbersome even as they canvassed cheaper administration of such funds in order to bring millions of under-served but economically active Nigerians into the financial inclusion net in the years ahead.

Desirous to take banking to the next level, Intercontinental Bank Plc and MoneyBox Africa, yesterday unveiled a new mobile money initiative which they say would redefine the concept of mobile banking in the country and cater for the large pool of the unbanked.

It will take at least two years for Nigeria’s banking industry to return to investment grade rating as it recovers from the impact of last year’s $4 billion bailout, the country’s oldest ratings agency said on yesterday.

Despite spirited efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilize the financial system through fresh injection of funds to the ailing banks, especially those slated for recapitalization, emerging facts are proving that a combination of foreign and domestic circumstances may scuttle the laudable desire of the apex bank, TOLA AKINMUTIMI writes.

BGL Asset Management Limited (BAML) has been appointed as the Financial Advisors/Fund Managers to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA) Endowment Fund.

• Kick off awareness campaign tomorrow in Lagos

Nigeria’s sustained efforts by policy reforms and financial frameworks to address the challenges of financial illiteracy at the grassroots over the years will tomorrow receive a major boost as international and domestic experts will unveil a major collaborative nationwide agenda that would drastically enhance financial literacy rate across a broad spectrum of Nigerian informal sector’s economic stakeholders.

The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to involve all stakeholders, especially the labour unions and shareholders interest groups, in its current efforts to dispose some of the troubled in other to ensure successful sale process.

Sustained efforts by the Federal Government and other stakeholders in the nation’s financial and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sectors to move Nigeria’s payment system from a cash-dependent platform to the globally acceptable electronic-driven alternative may be hamstrung by dearth of critical telecommunication infrastructure and pervasive ignorance among the large mass of the citizenry unless urgent steps to tackle the challenges.

When Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, stormed the banking landscape like a crusading evangelist a year ago, many analysts, especially those who had no idea about the rot that had permeated the operational fabrics of the banking system, felt uncomfortable with his war. The campaign changed everything in the banking firmament and sent many of the erstwhile revered chieftains of the industry packing like errant school pupils, Tola Akinmutimi writes that one year after the reform, its been a bag full of gains and pains.

Top Bankers and other operators in both the public and private sectors of the economy in Abuja and its environs will deliberate on the strategic importance of effective Risk Management in a stressed economy.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to sell all old coins at its vaults as part of its efforts to convert idle assets to tangible and resourceful tools for optimal operations.

Barely seven weeks after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirmed full compliance of banks with its directive to remove all off-site Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) from their locations nationwide, there are strong indications that ATM-related frauds in banking transactions may have ebbed marginally, justifying the CBN’s position on the recent directive.

Determined to ensure judicious application of the funds disbursed to rejuvenate the small amd medium scal enterprises (SMEs) in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has threatened to sanction any bank that mismanages its own shares of the N130billion fund so far released for the SMEs.

Nigerian youths have urged the World Bank to involve them in the country’s programmes as part of their desire to contribute their quota to the sustainable development of the country.

In what appeared to be a strong rebuttal of some critics’ views that the ongoing reforms of the banking sector would invariably impact on shareholders negatively, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has said that the overall agenda of the reforms were aimed at protecting the public and by implication, shareholders interest in the long run.

• Advise customers on e-payment option

Apparently determined to improve their service delivery ratings nationwide, the various Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) are now placing more emphasis on e-payment for customers as a means of reducing to the barest minimum, pressures associated with meeting cash withdrawal demands of customers across the counter.

For the ongoing reforms in the banking sector to achieve the desired medium and long term objectives, stakeholders in key sectors of the economy must adopt an all-involving collaborative attitude towards efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aimed at achieving financial stability and sustainable growth of the real sector in the years ahead.