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CBN Unveils New Policy to Capture the Unbanked

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The Central Bank of Nigeria has unveiled the National Financial Inclusion Strategy designed to ensure that at least 80 per cent of Nigerians have access to banking and other financial services.

The CBN Deputy Governor on Financial System Stability, Mrs. Aisha Ahmad, made the presentation at the National Financial Literacy Stakeholders’ Conference in Abuja.

She said that the apex bank had also released new policy frameworks on consumer protection, financial literacy and financial education.

“Adequate consumer protection is critical to sustaining the long term viability of the financial sector because consumer protection is a necessary precursor to building and maintaining trust in the formal financial sector.

“An essential pillar of any consumer protection regime is consumer education, which is founded on financial literacy.

“The benefits of a financially literate population are immense. Consumers are better equipped to make optimal choices in the use of financial products, pose lower credit and default risk.

“In addition constitute a market for sustainable financial services and promote Financial System Stability by increasing market demand and responsible use of financial services,” she said.

Ahmad said the CBN recently introduced regulations and guidelines for the licensing and operations of Payment Service Banks in furtherance of its efforts to leverage technology to enhance access to financial services for the unbanked.

She said the move was expected to drive down exclusion rates by leveraging wider variety of multiple channels to enhance access to deposit products, payments and remittance services to small businesses and low income households.

Meanwhile, the Director, Consumer Protection Department, CBN, Mr Kofo Salam-Alada, harped on the importance of promoting sound financial system in the country to ensure that consumers continue to have confidence in the sector.

“As we seek to boost the number of consumers in the financial industry through the Financial Inclusion Strategy, it is important that we establish policies, structures and programmes that would engender confidence among the general public.

“This is even more imperative considering the fact that we are only just recovering from a financial crisis that brought the financial system on the brink of collapse.

“All the efforts at strengthening the financial system would be fruitless if there are no concerted efforts to restore trust and confidence among consumers,” he said.

Salam-Alada revealed that since the consumer protection department was set up, it had successfully recovered more than N68 billion in favour of customers who have been shortchanged by their banks.

Also, the Managing Director, Jaiz Bank, Mr Hassan Usman said that the bank was committed to deepening financial services in the country through its non-interest banking strategy.

He said that the bank was currently engaging with women entrepreneurs in rural areas and giving them small loans to grow their businesses while encouraging them to open accounts.

According to him, the aim is to expose them to bank facilities that will grow their businesses in the near future.

The newly released National Financial Inclusion Strategy proposes roles and responsibilities for key stakeholders in the financial sector to reduce financial exclusion rate from the present 36.8 per cent to 20 per cent by 2020.

The key stakeholders are the Federal Government, the Deposit Money Bank’s, Development Finance Institutions, National Insurance Commission, National Pension Commission, National Communication Commission and Nigeria Postal Service among others.

The priority areas identified for the success of the strategy includes “Tiered Know-Your-Customer” regulations, agent banking regulations, national financial literacy strategy and consumer protection.


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E-Financial

Moody’s Upgrades Ecobank’s Outlook to Stable

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Moody’s has upgraded the outlook on Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to stable from negative.

In the latest rating commentary, made available to media on Thursday, Moody’s also affirmed the pan-African banking group’s B3/Not Prime long- and short-term issuer ratings; B3 senior unsecured debt rating; b2 notional Baseline Credit Assessment and b1 Adjusted BCA.

ETI’s subsidiaries operate across 38 countries, including 35 African countries, and total assets of $28.9bn as of March 2025, details from the rating note highlighted. Moody’s said the decision to change the outlook to stable on the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings reflects ETI’s resilient financial performance.

The rating upgrade also takes into consideration higher dividends being upstreamed to ETI, resulting in lower double leverage and reduced refinancing risk.

The rating adjustment also reflects an expectation that the recapitalisation process of Ecobank Nigeria Limited will be completed by the end of 2025, with limited impact on the group’s financial fundamentals.

“The stable outlook also captures our expectation that a series of capital-boosting initiatives and actions to cure Ecobank Nigeria’s total capital position will be completed before the end of 2025”, according to the ratings agency.

In May 2025, ETI received shareholder approval to raise $250 million in Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital and announced the launch of the transaction effective 9 July 2025, of which a portion is expected to be downstreamed to Ecobank Nigeria as AT1 capital during Q3 2025.

Ecobank Nigeria’s plan to raise $200m in AT1 capital was noted in the rating note. The ratings analysts said they consider

“We also note that Ecobank Nigeria’s recent successful offer to tender $150m of its February 2026 $300 million notes and consent to remove the capital adequacy ratio covenant from this bond’s terms alleviates risks of an event of default in Nigeria that would trigger cross default at the ETI level. Over the past year, ETI has shown resilience in its financial performance, which supports our change in outlook to stable. Liquidity risks are being moderated by the group’s gradually improving profitability during 2024 and Q1-2025.

“This has translated into a 22 per cent increase in dividends upstreamed to ETI during 2024, these being received from 22 dividend-paying subsidiaries compared to just 14 in 2021,” the rating commentary revealed.

In turn, albeit high, ETI’s double leverage ratio, which measures the liquidity risk taken on by the holding company, as a result of it borrowing in order to invest in the equity of its subsidiaries, has eased to 168 per cent as of December 2024 from 173 per cent in 2023.

Additionally, the stable outlook reflects reduced liquidity risk at the holding company level with the refinancing of short-term liabilities in 2024 with longer-term funding.

Moody’s said this is underpinned by demonstrated market access, notably through senior unsecured notes issuance of $400m in October 2024 and a tap increase of $125m in May 2025, maturing in October 2029.

ETI’s B3 long-term issuer ratings affirmation reflects the affirmation of the group’s b2 notional BCA; the affirmation of the group’s b1 adjusted BCA as captured by a one-notch uplift for affiliate support, reflecting Moody’s assessment of a moderate probability that the firm’s major institutional shareholders would extend support to the group. Moody’s said asset quality for the group has improved over recent years.

 


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SEC Grants “No objection” to N323Bn First Holdco Shares Deal

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted a “no objection” to the N323.45 billion First Holdco off-market deal that occurred on July 16.

The regulator in a statement clarified its role in the deal, which is famous for being the largest on the NGX, following public speculation over the nature of its involvement.

In a statement released Thursday, the Commission stated it conducted a comprehensive review. This review was carried out in line with existing laws and regulatory requirements. The capital market regulator also emphasised that there were no subsequent requests for additional information. It added that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made no further inquiries after the transaction was finalised.

Addressing circulating reports, the SEC noted that its communication with the parties involved should not be misconstrued as a query. Instead, it described the correspondence as part of an automated compliance mechanism designed to ensure transparency and proper closure of large-scale transactions in the Nigerian capital market.

“The Commission remains firmly committed to its mandate of regulating a fair, orderly, and efficient market; protecting investors; and fostering capital formation in Nigeria,” the statement added.

The June 16 transaction involved the sale of over 10.4 billion shares in First Bank Holdings by entities linked to Oba Otudeko and Tunde Hassan-Odukale to RC Investment Management. RC Investment has since been identified as a trustee acting under an arrangement coordinated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and First Bank Holdings.

Otudeko and Hassan-Odukale, both former chairmen of First Bank of Nigeria, were key figures in the long-running power tussle for control of the lender.

The leadership struggle dates back to 2021, when billionaire investor Femi Otedola entered the fray and eventually emerged as chairman of First Bank Holdings. Otudeko, through his investment vehicle Barbican Capital, had taken legal action against the CBN and First Holdco, challenging the refusal to acknowledge his claimed majority stake.

 


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Kuda Unveils New Wallet for Multiple Currencies

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As the first currency supported by the functionality, Kuda launched an update for its app that allows users to send, receive, hold, and convert USD directly.

Kuda Unveils New Wallet for Multiple Currencies

Babs Ogundeyi, MD, Kuda

The action comes in response to growing consumer demand for currency-neutral spending, savings, and income management.

As part of its expansion strategy, digital bank Kuda has introduced a multicurrency wallet to assist Africans who live, work, and travel internationally.

Users may keep, fund, and convert between five main currencies—the US dollar, British pound, euro, Nigerian naira, and Canadian dollar—all within a single wallet on the Kuda app with this application, which is still undergoing testing.

“The new wallet is designed to simplify the fragmented experience Africans face when managing money across different countries and currencies,” said Nosa Oyegun, senior vice president, Business Banking, Kuda, during a media parley in Lagos.

“People no longer reside in a single nation. Due to their global reach, Africans should be able to transfer their money with ease, Oyegun stated.

He claims that eligible customers outside of Nigeria may already access the wallet on Android smartphones, and an iOS deployment is planned.

He clarified that Kuda purposefully decided against developing a distinct wallet app.

Customers will be able to log in as normal, open foreign currency balances, convert money when needed, and send or spend money without switching platforms because it will be integrated into the core Kuda experience.

More than N100 billion entered Kuda accounts from LemFi in 2024 alone.

“This wallet is just our first step in acknowledging and supporting the fact that our customers are already living this cross-border reality,” Oyegun stated.

Kuda wants to give people a smooth financial tool that suits their lifestyle, not only currency exchange.

By removing the bottlenecks involved in the need to switch between various apps or financial services, the wallet will enable users from overseas to send money home, exchange currencies, and continue spending from the same account when they visit Nigeria.

Oyegun emphasized throughout the event that the wallet also takes client retention into account.

Kuda plans to keep helping people who move overseas as they adjust to life in other nations rather than losing them.

He further claimed that these users had not churned. “They simply switched nations. We wish to continue servicing them.

Kuda is now one of many African fintech companies developing products for cross-border use cases as a result of the move.

Oyegun pointed out that Kuda’s goal is to become a financial partner for Africans wherever they may be, going beyond simply exchanging currencies.

The bank’s growth trajectory is reflected in Kuda’s first-quarter 2025 performance, which was disclosed during the briefing. Customer confidence in the company’s digital-first strategy was strengthened when it recorded N453 billion in savings deposits and processed N8.4 trillion in total transaction volume.

With the new feature being introduced on the app, Kuda Microfinance Bank hopes to assist online business owners, freelancers, and remote workers who make money in USD with the recently added feature, which is currently undergoing testing.

Users can choose to accept USD payments directly or convert naira into USD using the Spend tab.

In the near future, GBP and EUR will be recognized as alternative currencies, according to the financial institution.

Additionally, in Nigeria, where inflation is severe, having USD on hand might be advantageous and convenient for people.

More Nigerians have recently begun to use digital platforms to improve the stability of their financial status.

For the majority of them, managing multiple currencies—whether via remote work, cryptocurrency, or international trade—has become the standard. Kuda Bank aims to meet these demands and grow its business to meet the demands of the market.

The financial institution’s continued dedication to providing solutions that give its users the best possible experience which is demonstrated by the multicurrency wallet feature.

Speaking about the project, Kuda representatives emphasized that the new wallet was created to make it easier for Africans to manage their money across various nations and currencies.

Customers can log in as normal, open foreign currency balances, convert funds, and spend or send money without switching platforms thanks to the integration of this feature within Kuda.

Along with currency conversion, Kuda plans to provide a financial tool that eliminates the need for users to switch between apps or financial services by enabling users from other countries to send money to Nigeria, convert currencies, and spend from the same account when they visit.


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