E-Financial
Ecobank Nigeria to Appeal Honeywell’s Purported N72 billion Court Judgement
Ecobank Nigeria Limited says it will appeal a judgement by the Federal High Court in Lagos, presided over by Hon. Justice Liman, which delivered a judgment in favour of Honeywell Flour against the bank and ordered it to pay the sum of N72 billion.
The bank said it believe that the judgment is perverse and cannot stand the test of time. It also noted that it would vigorously challenge same, and remain confident that it can reverse this judgment at the higher courts.
Sources from the bank stated that the instant suit was an action filed in 2018 for the enforcement of the Bank’s Undertaking as to Damages which was filed in pursuance of its Winding Up Petition and the Ex-Parte Orders which were granted in favour of the Bank.
“We challenged the action through a Notice of Preliminary Objection dated 16th October, 2018 whereby we challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, as (among other reasons), the action did not fall within the provisions of Section 251 (d) of the Constitution, being that the subject matter of the suit was for the Claim of Damages arising out of an Ex-Parte Order, as opposed to a Banker-Customer relationship.
Trial was concluded in this matter since 9th March, 2021 and the parties adopted their final written addresses alongside our Notice of Preliminary objection on the 16th March, 2022, the Court then adjourned the matter to 27th May, 2022 for judgment. While the court failed to deliver judgment on the said date, the registrar of the court promised to inform counsel whenever the judgement was ready”.
“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Bank’s favour, in Suit No. SC/CV/210/2021 which was delivered on 27th January 2023, the bank further filed a Motion on notice dated 9th March, 2023 to dismiss the Suit on the grounds that same has become academic as a result of the judgment entered in favour of Ecobank wherein the Supreme Court held that Honeywell remained indebted to the Bank.
“The Court heard motion dated 9th March, 2023 and adjourned to 23th June, 2023 for ruling on our two applications and also for delivery of judgment.
“The Court consequently delivered the said ruling/judgment today July 18 via a virtual proceeding at about 4pm.
“In its Judgment, the Court dismissed the two applications we filed, holding that it has jurisdiction to entertain the suit and also that the suit had not become academic”.
According to the bank, In reaching its judgment, the Court ignored/refused (among others): Submissions showing that the Ex-Parte Orders were discharged on points of law and not that it was frivolously obtained by the Bank; that the Ex-Parte Order lasted for less than 2 weeks, contrary to the Claim of Honeywell which was said to have covered the period of three years; that the documents presented by Honeywell particularly the annual returns did not show the alleged damage, hence same was indeed non-existent; that documents from various other Banks who were served with the ex-parte order showed that the Honeywell companies were indeed highly indebted to them, hence there was no way the Ex-Parte Orders would have frozen funds in the said Banks; and more importantly, the Court refused all the objections regarding the documents maliciously prepared by Honeywell for the sole purpose of instituting the Suit and claiming unjustifiable sums from the Bank.
The bank reiterated that it is a member of the Ecobank Group, the Pan-African Bank which is proudly and fully committed to transparency in all the countries where it operates, and abide by laws and regulations. It believes that this matter should be conclusively determined in line with the applicable judicial process.
E-Financial
SEC to Include Cybersecurity, AI in Curriculum Review – DG
Dr Emomotimi Agama, director general, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said that his commission is working to expand the capital market education curriculum for Nigerian universities to include topics on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, financial technology, and others.
Agama, made this statement during the inauguration of a committee tasked with reviewing the curriculum on securities and investment management.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) has already approved the curriculum for Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions.
The committee will be chaired by Professor Uche Uwaleke of Capital Market Studies at Nasarawa State University
He said, “Due to new developments in fintech, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and others, there is a need to expand the curriculum to accommodate the new trends. It is an important time and we want to latch in to be able to teach Nigerians, especially the young people, about the capital market. In light of this, the commission has set up a committee to review and enrich the existing curriculum to reflect these advancements.
“It is sad that people do not have a full grasp of capital market issues. We must do everything to share knowledge and educate people. We want to be the best capital market among nations and that can only be possible due to the superiority of our knowledge. You are well placed to do this being in the Ivory Towers and I thank you for accepting to serve as we look forward to a robust discussion.”
Agama disclosed that the terms of reference of the committee included: a review of the NUC curriculum on securities and investment management to include the non-interest capital market, the commodities ecosystem, the derivatives market, sustainable finance; and capital Market regulations; expanding the ‘Introduction to Cryptocurrency’ section of the NUC curriculum to reflect current developments.; and developing a standard capital market studies curriculum to be used by Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions.
Members of the committee include Prof Augustine Agom of the Ahmadu Bello University; Prof. Seth Akutson of the Kaduna State University; Prof Chuke Nwude of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and Dr Akeem Oyewole of Marble Capital Ltd.
Others are Prof Oladele Akinyomi of the Mountain Top University; Head of the Market Development Department of SEC, Mrs Ojone Kabir; Head of Economic Research and Intelligence of SEC, Dr Hassan Suleiman and Mrs Jessica Ogwuche of the Financial Inclusion and Investor Education Department of SEC, who is the secretary of the committee.
In his remarks, Uwaleke, chairman of the committee, appreciated the management of the commission for finding members of the committee fit and trusted to carry out the assignment.
“We know that part of our challenge is because our retail investor base is shallow in relation to our population and one way to change the narrative is through capital market literacy. We as lecturers can attest to the fact that capital market literacy within the academic environment is low and I think tackling that is one low-hanging fruit.
“I am aware that the DG and others have been trying to increase the level of awareness with various programmes like quizzes, essays, investor clinics and others, but for us to make more impact, we need to focus on tertiary institutions and that is why I think what we are doing is very crucial,” he stated.
Uwaleke assured that the members would add value given their track record, saying that the objectives and terms of reference of the committee would be achieved.
E-Financial
CBN Puts Nigerian Adults with Certified Bank Accounts @ 54m
About 54 million Nigerian adults have bank accounts recognized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) representing 52 per cent in 2023, the Apex bank declared on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Bank said about another 5 per cent adult population is captured under the “other formal” financial inclusion category. CBN gave the updates at the Financial Literacy Fair in commemoration of the 2024 World Savings Day celebration.
It disclosed that 11 per cent are categorised as being informally captured in financial inclusion while 32 per cent or 33.9 million Nigerians are excluded entirely from the financial system.
Ibrahim Yahaya, Acting Head of the Consumer Protection Department said the savings culture has improved over time.
“Over time, Savings has improved. Savings have improved significantly if you look at it from the deposit side. Deposit in the banking industry has been on the increase over time”
“There are other events that may discourage people from saving. You see, in the time that we have been on this journey, people’s income, there has always been that agitation that income is never enough to meet my immediate needs and wants. So it has always been like that.
Speaking to the reason school children were invited to witness World Savings Day, Ibrahim Yahaya said the CBN is celebrating the World Savings Day, an international event that is celebrated on 31st of October each year with the main objective being to promote the importance of savings.
“You know instil the culture of savings among the youth and you know emphasize the importance so that you know right from childhood you grow up with that discipline and you know having that at the back of our minds and even the parents to promote this idea of saving in view of the importance of savings to address some future events that may arise.”
He added “It is very important to save because of eventualities. You know this life is full of a lot of journeys so you need to save in case any issue arise you will be able to have something like a fallback so as to address on in case of those eventualities.
On the impact of savings on the economy, Yahaya stated that “Savings is part of deposits. Savings that you have in the bank is part of deposits and used for lending. Lending drives growth, economic growth. So what we have as deposits is what the banks use to lend out especially to the real sector that drive economic growth.”
To this end, he urged school children to take savings as a habit. “If you say you need to have plenty before you save, then you will never do it. But if you take it as a habit, keep something aside, no matter the challenges, you will see the importance tomorrow.”
Savings and inflation, Yahaya noted that “inflation has been there. I know it is more challenging these days. But if you take it as part of a life, you know, culture, a life attitude, I think you will find it very easy.
“And of course, if you have the savings, if you have something to fall back on now, of course, you know how the impact will be in these trying times.”
E-Financial
Google among Investors Funneling $110m into Moniepoint Nigeria
Moniepoint, a Nigerian cash-transfer startup, raised $110 million in an equity sale to expand in home market and across Africa, Tosin Eniolorunda, founder and chief executive said.
The Series C funding round, backed by an Africa investment fund owned by Google and Development Partners International LLP, will enable the firm start cross-border remittances and extend banking services into francophone African countries, according to Eniolorunda.
“We are at different levels of engagement for approvals to do remittances,” Eniolorunda said in an interview. “We want to deploy banking to other countries.”
Founded in 2015 to provide infrastructure and payment solutions in Africa’s most populous nation, Moniepoint has seen rapid expansion taking advantage of Nigeria central bank’s cashless drive and widespread insecurity that has promoted the use of digital platforms for payments, according to Eniolorunda.
The Financial Times earlier reported that the funding round gives the company so-called unicorn status, or a value of more than $1 billion, citing unidentified people familiar with the company.
That puts the firm in the ranks of other players like Flutterwave, OPay and Jumia Technologies AG that have all achieved or surpassed the elusive valuation by exploring the Nigerian market.
Moniepoint processes 800 million transactions, worth about $17 billion every month, according to Eniolorunda.
The company is looking to start inventory management “soon” to complement other banking services including debit cards, savings, lending and payments, he said.
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