E-Financial
CWG Wins Prestigious Wincor-Nixdorf Award
Computer Warehouse Group (CWG Plc), leading Pan African ICT giant,was accorded the highest recognition at the just concluded Wincor Portugal, Middle East and Africa Regional Partners Summit 2013 in Dubai by winning the most prestigious Best Absolute Achievement award.
Mr. Eckard Heidloff, president & CEO of Wincor-Nixdorf, while presenting the award to Mr. Austin Okere, founder and group CEO of CWG, remarked that CWG has indeed distinguished herself both in the roll out of new technology, and also in contributing the largest chunk to the impressive 47% year on year revenue growth recorded by Wincor in the region.
In response, Okere thanked Hiedloff for demonstrating deep commitment to Nigeria by making a historic visit earlier in the year which created the opportunity for a successful joint go to market strategy.
Wincor-Nixdorf has powered strongly to the number two position in both global rankings and in the US, while she holds the commanding heights of number one ranking in Europe, with Revenues of about $3.34b in the last financial year, ending September, 2013.
CWG’s unique approach of offering an end-to-end strategy for her ATM deployments involves the provision key value added services covering warranty upgrade to SLA for critical customer experience, training for branch custodians for higher up times, inverters and batteries, communication links, and Proview monitoring for optimal performance of the ATMs.
The strategy is built around ensuring a single responsibility point for all the key activities and services around the ATMs to guarantee seamless operation, and peace of mind to her customers, while also minimising fragmented vendor touch points, which inadvertently leads to fraud and needless finger pointing.
It will be recalled that one of the highlights of the 4th Nigerian-German Economic forum in 2011 which was graced by both President Goodluck Jonathan and Chancellor Angela Merkel at Abuja, CWG and Wincor Nixdorf signed a cooperative agreement to deploy 600 Wincor Nixdorf ATMs to major banks and financial institutions in Nigeria.
The British Retail Banking Research Group, relying on statistics from the Central bank of Nigeria, estimates that there are about 11,000 ATMs in Nigeria today, with about 50% being of the Wincor-Nixdorf brand. CWG, having deployed and supporting about a third of the aggregate ATMs, or 3500 Wincor Nixdorf ATMs has established her credentials as the defacto leading ATM Company in Nigeria.
CWG provides ATM solutions to 18 of the 21 banks in Nigeria, including UBA, Ecobank, GT Bank, FCMB and StanbicIBTC amongst others.
E-Financial
Lagos State Appoints MoneyMaster as Payment Partner for “Ounje Eko” Programme
“Ounje Eko”, the food price discount initiative of the Lagos State Government, has appointed leading payment service bank, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank Limited (MMPSB), as its collaborator in the bid to ensure ease of payments at the market.
MoneyMaster is one of the Central Bank of Nigeria-licensed Payment Service Banks (PSBs) to promote financial inclusion across Nigeria.
Under the partnership, MMPSB will apply its cutting-edge payment solution to engender easy payment and reconciliation in order to make the experiences of Lagosians who will be getting their food supplies from the markets pleasurable. Its payment solution is also all-encompassing and ensures real time value to payment destinations.
The mobile bank was appointed as the collection and payment partner for “Ounje Eko” Food Markets programme which is a government initiative serving the five divisions of Lagos State. Consequent on this, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank will collect payments in 57 LCDAs in the state.
The partnership gives credence to the quality of payment solutions that MoneyMaster is reputed for in its services to its growing business clientele in private and public sectors.
E-Financial
CBN, EFCC Probe Banks, Firms over Alleged Forex Racketeering
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is investigating irregular foreign exchange transactions and forward contracts valued at approximately $2.4 billion.
The inquiry follows an extensive audit by Deloitte, which scrutinized $7 billion in dollar debts accumulated under the bank’s previous leadership.
In the aftermath of the 294th Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, Yemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, disclosed to journalists that the investigation, supported by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, among other security bodies, aims to clarify the legitimacy of these FX allocations identified as problematic by the audit.
“It was determined that a number of these transactions did not qualify…they were outright illegal. The law enforcement agencies are now looking into those transactions that as far as we are concerned, are not valid to be paid,” Cardoso detailed, emphasizing the unlawful nature of these forex deals.
The crux of the investigation lies in the audit findings that a significant portion of the scrutinized transactions lacked proper documentation and, in many instances, were deemed outright illegal.
However, the unfolding investigation has raised concerns within the organized private sector, with some entities contemplating legal action against commercial banks for unresolved forex bids.
Despite these tensions, Governor Cardoso reassures that the foreign exchange market remains open and transparent, inviting stakeholders to address their forex needs through the official channels.
Furthermore, Cardoso clarified the distribution of fertilizers to farmers as a one-off measure and not indicative of a shift back to direct interventions by the CBN, underscoring a commitment to strategic, regulatory governance rather than direct market involvement.
E-Financial
CBN Urges Banks to Expedite Action on Recapitalisation
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed deposit money banks in the country to expedite action to increase their capital base from the current ₦25bn.
Olayemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, stated this during the apex bank’s 294th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday in Abuja, when the MPC hiked the interest rate by 22.75% to 24.75%.
The apex bank chief said the MPC examined developments in the banking sector and expressed satisfaction that the industry remained stable. The committee, however, said to guard against risk, commercial banks in the country should accelerate their recapitalisation efforts.
Cardoso said, “The MPC also reviewed developments in the banking system and noted that the industry remains safe, sound, and stable. The committee thus called on the bank to sustain its surveillance and ensure compliance of banks with existing regulatory and macro-potential guidelines.
“The MPC also enjoined the banks to expedite actions on the recapitalisation of banks to strengthen the system against potential risks in an increasingly globalised world.”
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