You are cordially invited.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Monday, November 21, 2016
CBN Governor's Remarks at 2016 Annual Bankers' Dinners
Dear Sir/Madam,
Kindly click here to read the Keynote address delivered by the Governor of
CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, at the 2016 Bankers Dinner which held on Friday,
November 18, 2016 at the Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos.
We wish to thank you all for participating at the Dinner.
INVESTITURE OF MR. OLUSEYE AWOJOBI, FCIB, THE REGISTRAR/CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CIBN, INTO THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS OF NIGERIA
Forex crisis: Fitch downgrades 10 Nigerian banks
A leading global rating agency, Fitch Ratings, has
revised down the Support Rating Floors of 10 Nigerian banks to ‘No Floor’ and
downgraded nine others’ Support Ratings to ‘5’ following a reassessment of
potential sovereign support for the banking sector. As a result, the long-term
Issuer Default Ratings of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, FBN Holdings Plc,
Diamond Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Limited, and
Union Bank of Nigeria Plc have been downgraded to ‘B-’ from ‘B’, in line
with their stand-alone creditworthiness as defined by their Viability Ratings,
according to a statement by Fitch. The agency, however, affirmed the long-term
IDRs of Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, United Bank
for Africa Plc, Wema Bank Plc and Bank of Industry. In the statement released
in London, Fitch said, “The downgrade of the nine banks’ SRs and the revision
of 10 banks’ (including Wema) SRFs to ‘No Floor’ reflects Fitch’s view that
senior creditors can no longer rely on receiving full and timely extraordinary
support from the Nigerian sovereign if any of the banks become non-viable.
“Fitch believes that the Nigerian authorities retain a willingness to support
the banks, but their ability to do so in foreign currency is weakening due to
Nigeria’s eroding foreign currency reserves/ revenues, as well as limited
confidence that any available foreign currency will not be used to execute
other policy objectives. Therefore, Fitch takes the view that support, if ever
required by the banks, cannot be relied upon.” According to the rating agency,
the long-term IDRs of Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, FCMB and Union Bank are
downgraded to ‘B-’ as they are now underpinned by their VRs of ‘B-’ rather than
their SRFs, as was previously the case. Fitch added, “The downgrade of FBN’s
long-term IDR reflects both a. Source:
Punch
CBN to provide N750bn for agric bank recapitalisation
The
Central Bank of Nigeria is to provide about N750bn for the recapitalisation of
the Bank of Agriculture before the end of next year, the Federal Government has
said. According to the government, the restructuring and recapitalisation of
the BoA will enable the bank to attract up to N1tn to effectively provide loans
at affordable interest rates to farmers. The Minister of State for Agriculture
and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, disclosed this at the
Farmers’ Field Day organised by Dizengoff Nigeria Limited in collaboration with
Phinada Integrated Farms in Abuja. He said, “The Central Bank of Nigeria is
collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture. This is because one of the
biggest challenge of agriculture in Nigeria today is access to affordable
loans. But in many other parts of the world, agriculture is the most attractive
sector for banks to lend money to. So what do we do? “As a ministry and the
Federal Government, we are planning to recapitalise the Bank of Agriculture.
So, we are to restructure the BoA and the CBN is committed to providing about
N750bn. The BoA as an institution itself is going to attract hundreds of
billions of naira. And we thinking that before the end of next year, we should
be able to attract at least N1tn available credit to be lent to anybody who
wants to do farming business.” The minister added, “Right now, the Federal
Government is subsidising farmers, but the subsidy is not what the farmers
want. We have seen this under the Anchor Borrowers Scheme of the CBN in Kebbi.
In that scheme there was no subsidy. “What the CBN, through the BoA, did was to
give each farmer between N110,000 and N130,000 to cultivate one hectare of rice
farm, and some of them got 10 tonnes per hectare. And if rice per tonne is
between N60,000 and N80,000, then whoever adequately. Source: Punch
IMF approves $41.6 million disbursement for Haiti
The Executive Board
of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved
SDR 30.7125 million (about US$42.1 million) in financial
assistance for the Republic of Haiti under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). The
IMF said the funds, which will be made available immediately, would help
Haitian authorities meet urgent balance of payments needs arising from the
effects of Hurricane Matthew. The Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair,
Tao Zhang, said: “The severe impact from Hurricane Matthew has plunged the
country into a new humanitarian crisis even as Haiti is still recovering from
the devastating 2010 earthquake, the lingering impact of a prolonged drought,
and a sharp decline in external assistance. According to him, International
relief efforts in response to the hurricane will help Haiti respond quickly to the
crisis. IMF financing through the Rapid Credit Facility will help meet urgent
foreign exchange needs and ease the pressure on the balance of payments.
“Emergency relief and reconstruction costs will significantly raise the overall
fiscal deficit and the increase in imports of goods and services will widen the
external current account deficit over the next few years. “While preparing for
the large increase in spending that will be needed to support
econstruction, the authorities recognize the need to contain risks. In
particular, they have affirmed their commitment to limit the non-hurricane
budget deficit to approximately 2.3 per cent of GDP in fiscal year 2016/17,” he
stated. Speaking further, he noted that while increased imports to support the
rebuilding efforts will be partially financed by international reserves, gross
reserves are anticipated to remain adequate, and the central bank will maintain
exchange rate flexibility. To maintain the sustainability of public debt, the
authorities have affirmed their intent to sustain prudent financing of the
deficit, not enter into. Source: Guardian
NNPC, Shell, banks sign $2.2bn deal for contractors
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Shell, supported by the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, has signed Memoranda of Understanding with eight local
banks under the refreshed Shell Contractors’ Support Fund. The oil major, in
a statement on Sunday, described the development as the latest milestone in
efforts to improve access to finance for Nigerian vendors and suppliers in
the oil and gas industry. It said under the MoUs signed in Lagos, Access
Bank, Skye Bank, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank, First Bank, Standard
Chartered Bank, First City Monument Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank had set
aside $2.2bn for contract execution by Nigerian firms. According to the
statement, the scheme provides support for contractors to enable them finance
projects executed for Shell Companies in Nigeria in line with the aspirations
of the Nigerian Content Act. It said to access the fund, the contractors must
have valid purchase orders and meet the banks’ risk assessment criteria,
adding that the refreshed version was in response to market realities and
would offer loans faster and at cheaper rates. “Supporting SMEs under this
scheme is for the mutual benefit of all the parties,” the Managing Director,
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited and Country Chair,
Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, said at the signing ceremony in
Lagos. “While the scheme reduces the pressure from requests for advance
payments from contractors on us, it also ensures optimum delivery by our
contractors, leaving the banks with a de-risked client base in addition to
the comfort of domiciliation of payments,” he added. The Finance Manager,
Nigeria and Gabon, Shell, Guy Janssens, stated that funding was key to enable
contractors to deliver and grow, urging the banks to make the scheme work.
The Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, Bayo
Ojulari, advised the contractors to perform in order build trust and grow. On
his part, the Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management
Services, Dafe Sejebo, implored the banks to make the loan facilities
available to the vendors whenever they come for them. Source: Punch
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