E-Financial
First Bank Confirms N68m of a Customer Reportedly Disappeared from Vault
First Bank Nigeria Plc have confirmed allegation that N68 million was illegally and fraudulently withdrawn from the account of a customer who banks with the bank’s branch at Ring Road, Benin City.
Glory Omokaro, Nigerian based in Italy, had accused the bank of fraudulently removing N68 million from her saving bank account domiciled with the Ring Road Benin branch.
According to Thegazellenews, First Bank has now come out to admit the fraud noting that the matter is undergoing investigation.
First Bank said, “We confirm the report of fraudulent activity on the account of one of our customers. This incident has been undergoing a very robust investigation since our receipt of the customer’s complaint with the goal of holistically unearthing what transpired and addressing the challenge, including satisfying the customer. Unfortunately, this has taken longer than anticipated.
“While the investigation is ongoing, we have repaired the customer’s account given the findings so far and our view that this is the best action in consideration for our customer. We regret any inconveniences this may have caused the customer and wish to emphasize that this incident is in no way reflective of the principles and ethics of our time-tested operations.”
Omokaro had narrated her ordeal when she appeared on a popular Radio Programme, in Abuja, the Brekete Family.
The customer who travelled to Italy in 2005 said she returned in 2013 to visit her family and opened a savings account with First Bank at the Ring Road Branch in Benin City, Edo State.
She stated that she traveled back to Italy, and deposited money into the First Bank account and was allegedly in touch with the branch manager, Mr Gabriel.
In 2018, during another visit to Nigeria, Omokaro subscribed to the bank application to enable her to track her transactions from Italy.
She also applied for a debit card, which she used to perform transactions during her stay. When she returned to Italy, Omokaro said her account was not tampered with until 2021, when her ATM allegedly expired.
She contacted the same bank manager, Gabriel, to help renew her debit card.
According to her, the manager gave her the option of sending someone or coming in person to renew the card.
She said due to Covid-19 restrictions, she could not return. However, she returned in May 2023 and visited the bank branch to withdraw and also renew her card.
She was told in the bank that she had no money in her account with the bank.
“I met customer care and I was told that I only have N3,000 in my account and not N68 million,” Peter Uvieruve, who spoke for the victim said.
She said she requested for the bank statement but the bank declined to release the statement to her.
She however, requested for the statement through a lawyer who wrote the bank. “The statement was released one week later,” Peter said.
“We discovered that on 13, October 2022, they moved N51.7 million out of the account. They returned the money. We suspected that they were checking if she would complain. But she did not notice. After 24 days around November 2022, they withdrew three times from the account. The first was N9 million, then N5 million, N2 million and another N2 million until it was left with N3,000.
“We contacted EFCC, they said they were only after Yahoo boys for now. We contacted the DSS and they declined. The lawyer also started behaving as though he was compromised,” he said.
So they had to take their case to the popular radio programme.
Credit. Thegazellenews
By 8 am on July 9, GTCO Holdings is set to commence trading on the London Stock Exchange.
As the group is set to list all its shares on the London Stock Exchange, becoming the first Nigerian banking entity to do so.
This is as the group launches a public offer of new ordinary shares to raise approximately $100 million on the London Stock Exchange.
The equity offering, which is an accelerated bookbuild and managed by Citigroup, began on July 2 and is to last until July 31.
On July 31, the group announced that it would cancel the listing of its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) on the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Official List.
It will also cancel their admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s main market.
In place of the GDRs, the group will list all its ordinary shares directly.
aims to admit all its shares to the equity shares category for international commercial companies under a secondary listing on the FCA’s Official List.
The shares will also begin trading on the LSE’s main market for listed securities.
According to a regulatory filing on the London Stock Exchange, the net proceeds from the offering will be used to recapitalize GTBank Nigeria.
Based on the prevailing exchange rate of N1,540 to the US dollar, the targeted $100 million equates to approximately N154 billion.
This capital raise is expected to position the Group to fully meet the N500 billion minimum paid-up share capital required by regulators for banks with international licenses.
As of now, both Zenith Bank and Access Holdings have already met—and exceeded—this threshold.
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has handed over new licenses to SanlamAllianz Life and General Insurance Nigeria Ltd at brief ceremony held in Abuja.
Olusegun Omosehin, commissioner for Insurance emphasized the Commission’s commitment to supporting the growth of insurance entities in the country, while ensuring strict compliance with regulatory requirements. He urged the companies to prioritize good corporate governance, stability, and timely claims settlement processes.
The Commissioner reiterated NAICOM’s dedication to removing unnecessary bottlenecks and improving the insurance industry’s overall performance. He expressed confidence that the merger would enhance the companies’ capabilities and contribute to the industry’s growth.
SanlamAllianz recently launched its operations in Nigeria, marking a significant step in the company’s Pan-African expansion.
The launch follows the merger of Sanlam and Allianz’s Nigerian operations, creating a new entity named SanlamAllianz Nigeria.
This joint venture aims to transform the Nigerian insurance landscape by offering enhanced customer experiences, innovative solutions, and improved financial inclusion.
World Bank has approved an additional $65 million loan for Nigeria to support the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, increasing the total financing for the initiative to $145 million.
The approval was granted on June 24, 2025, according to details posted on the World Bank’s website, which also indicates that the project’s status has moved to “active” following the approval.
The SPESSE project, initially launched with an $80 million loan approved in February 2020, aims to strengthen institutional capacity for managing procurement, environmental, and social standards in both the public and private sectors across Nigeria.
The World Bank described the project’s development objective as the establishment of sustainable capacity in these areas.
This latest approval is part of a broader wave of financing expected from the World Bank to Nigeria in 2025.
The bank is scheduled to approve loans totalling $1.61 billion over the coming months, supporting various development initiatives.
Among these is a $300 million loan for the ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project,’ expected to be finalised by the end of July.
This project aims to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in selected local government areas in northern Nigeria.
In September, the World Bank plans to approve four additional loans: a $10.5 million facility to support technical assistance for the Central Bank of Nigeria, a $300 million Health Security Program targeting Western and Central Africa (Nigeria – Phase IV), a $500 million project for building resilient digital infrastructure (BRIDGE), and a $500 million loan under the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth project aimed at promoting sustainable growth and job creation within key agricultural sectors.
Earlier in March 2025, the bank approved three financing requests amounting to $1.13 billion.
These funds are directed towards projects focused on enhancing quality education, boosting household and community resilience, and improving nutrition.
Among the approved loans were $80 million for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 project, $552 million for the HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme, and $500 million for the Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Programme.
In February, the Nigerian government announced expectations of new World Bank loans totalling $2.2 billion for six different projects in 2025. This follows a $1.5 billion loan disbursed in 2024 aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s economic stability and resource mobilisation efforts.
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