E-Financial
Foreign Banks aid $18Bn Corruption in Nigeria Annually- TI
Transparency International (TI) has alleged that international enablers headquartered in Beijing, Dubai, London and New York are parts of every single illicit transaction perpetrated in Nigeria, costing the country $18 billion per annum in tax evasion.
TI, also, observed that Nigeria had witnessed significant recovery of stolen assets from different countries worldwide, though lamented that absence of a harmonised stolen asset recovery regime had led to the re-looting of the recovered assets.
Mr. Auwal Rafsanjani, head of Nigeria Office, TI, made this allegation during a virtual special session of the United Nations General Assembly against corruption, which ended on Friday.
At the session, Rafsanjani lamented that corruption in Africa, especially Nigeria, “is aided by legitimate enablers that are only seldom held accountable and punished.”
He noted that Nigeria yearly “loses around $18 billion, most of it on tax evasion. International enablers headquartered in London, New York, Dubai and Beijing are part of every single illicit or corrupt transaction of significant proportion.
“The current situation is very bad. Putting things into perspective, Nigeria loses about $15bn to $18bn annually to illicit financial outflows like money laundering and the likes.
“Financial institutions, lawyers and other notaries help to facilitate Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and Money Laundering (ML). International jurisdictions that have become tax havens and allowed shell and shelf companies exist are also vehicles and destinations for moving these illicit funds out of developing countries.
“We also have cases of big companies finding loopholes in tax laws to prevent themselves from paying their fair share of taxes,” TI’s country representative alleged.
He said Nigeria had witnessed in recent years significant recoveries of stolen assets from abroad, noting that stolen assets recovered from the late tyrant, Gen. Sani Abacha was almost $2billion from the UK, New Jersey and Switzerland.
Despite what had been recovered from the late tyrant, Rafsanjani alleged that Abacha might have stolen “close to $6 billion. He inflicted incalculable social damage on the entire Nigerian population. Nigeria has experimented with a number of modalities on the management of international asset return.”
TI’s country representative, equally, lamented that some early recoveries were re-looted due to the lack of domestic management recovery framework and also due to incompetence of the international oversight.
“More recent recoveries reflect the growing realisation that civil society needs to be part of the monitoring of the management of the disbursement of recovered assets and they should be part of the entire asset recovery process from pre-investigation to the stage of disbursement of the recovered assets.”
Rafsanjani lamented that the victims of corruption “are not part of any stage of asset recovery in Nigeria. International asset recoveries follow bilateral agreement, which oversee and neglect the issue of identification of victims.”
In some cases, he explained that some attempts “have been made to prefer SDG financing or pro-poor allocation of compensation. However, no real standard is in place.”
Instead, according to Rafsanjani, countries of origin prefer ‘tangible mementos’ such as infrastructure projects, etc. that have nothing to do with the compensation of the real victims of corruption in the majority of asset returns;
In principle, he said there was a growing recognition in the Nigerian criminal law that there was a need to go beyond the notion of punitive justice, towards a solution that was more inclusive and encouraged the participation of victims and recognised the need to provide effective remedies for victims of crimes.
In practice, however, he explained that the courts were operating under the myth that corruption “is a victimless crime, partly because of the narrowed conception of corruption and the perceived legal challenges such as causation, legal standing, and evidence-gathering, victims of corruption are not identified.”
According to him, those who are economically and socially disadvantaged are the biggest victims of corruption, but have no access to the representation about their economic and social damages.
He said: “But it may be difficult to quantify the cost of corruption in most cases. This does not make the harms less real and deadly for Nigerians.”
He, therefore, challenged the UK, Dubai and other Island nations “to ensure that their financial institutions conduct proper Know Your Customer (KYC) measures or Enhance Due Diligence (EDD) as required by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and other global standards to combat money laundering.
“Having a beneficial ownership register that is accessible to the public is also very important in combating money laundering and illicit financial flows. The countries should ensure that companies who conduct businesses in developing countries pay their fair share of taxes in the countries where those profits are made.”
Nigeria has approached the World Bank for a fresh $10.50m loan to enhance the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) technical capacity and modernise the country’s domestic payment infrastructure.
Olayemi Cardoso, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria
According to information on the World Bank website on Thursday, the proposed CBN Technical Assistance Facility seeks to support integrating innovative technologies and data science into the CBN’s supervisory processes.
This is expected to help the apex bank tackle long-standing and emerging challenges in Nigeria’s rapidly evolving financial landscape while improving the domestic payment infrastructure for remittances.
The project, currently at the concept review stage, will focus on three key areas. Firstly, it aims to strengthen the CBN’s institutional capacity to keep pace with technological advancements through a robust governance framework, expert advisory support, peer-to-peer central bank exchanges, and modernisation of the CBN’s internal processes to align with the digital era.
Secondly, it will enhance the CBN’s supervisory capacity through technology and data improvements. This involves funding modern technical solutions, including Supervisory Technology systems, to improve data accuracy, operational efficiency, and risk-based supervision.
Thirdly, it aims to modernise domestic payment systems for remittances to improve their safety and reliability.
It will explore innovative methods to attract informal remittance flows into formal channels while conducting annual surveys on remittance households and fostering peer-to-peer learning for knowledge exchange.
According to the World Bank, the objective of this project is “to strengthen technology-enabled, data-driven, risk-based supervision at the CBN and improve domestic payment infrastructure for remittances in Nigeria.”
The project aligns with the government’s pursuit of a cashless economy and the increasing adoption of digital financial services in Nigeria.
The scheme, which has a commitment amount of $10.50m, is scheduled for board presentation approval on June 12, 2025. The implementing agency is the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Sterling Bank has called for the cancellation of bank transfer fees by major banks, announcing it will no longer take any money for itself for any local online transactions by its customers.
The announcement, made on April 1st, initially sparked widespread arguments, with many assuming it was a marketing prank tied to April Fools’ Day.
However, Sterling Bank, in a statement, has confirmed that it is not a stunt, that the zero-transfer-fee policy was real, and effective immediately.
With this move, Sterling becomes the first major Nigerian bank to take a definitive stand against the long-standing practice of charging customers for everyday digital transfers, an issue that has grown increasingly contentious as digital banking adoption deepens.
“We believe access to your own money shouldn’t come with a penalty,” said Obinna Ukachukwu, growth executive leading the Consumer and Business Banking Directorate, Sterling Bank
“This is more than a financial decision, it’s a values-based one. It reflects our commitment to making banking fair, inclusive, and truly customer focused.
“We’re not yet the biggest bank in Nigeria, but we’ve been the boldest,” Ukachukwu added.
“Sterling fearlessly believes in the future of Nigeria, and this is us backing Nigerians with more than words,” it sated.
Under the new policy, Sterling customers will enjoy free transfers for all local transactions conducted via the bank’s mobile app. This translates into significant savings, particularly for individuals and new small business owners who make frequent daily transfers.
The bank’s latest move has been met with widespread public approval, sparking positive reactions across social media and placing pressure on industry peers to follow suit.
We’re proud to lead this change,” Ukachukwu added. “We hope it inspires others to think differently about what customers truly need from their banks, not just in services, but in values.”
Fidelity Bank Plc has reported a pre-tax profit of N385.2 billion for 2024, representing a 210 per cent growth compared to the N124.3 billion recorded in 2023.
Dr Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, managing director/chief executive officer, Fidelity Bank Plc,
The bank, in a statement released on Monday, declared a total dividend of N2.10 per share following its strong financial performance in 2024.
Gross earnings increased by 87.7 per cent to N1,04 trillion, driven by a 106.9 per cent growth in interest and similar income to N950.6 billion.
The increase in interest income was attributed to improved yields on earning assets and a 51.6 per cent expansion in the earnings base to N6.3 trillion.
This led to a profit after tax of N278.1 billion, representing a 179.6 per cent annual growth.
Commenting on the results, Dr Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, managing director/chief executive officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, expressed satisfaction with the growth.
“We are delighted with our 2024 full-year (FY) performance, which showed strong growth across key revenue lines, improved asset quality and significant traction in our strategic business segments.
“Our impressive results led to a triple-digit increase by 210 per cent in Profit Before Tax (PBT), rising from N124.3 billion in 2023 to N385.2 billion in 2024,” she said.
A further review of the financial performance revealed that the bank’s net interest income increased by 127.1 per cent to N629.8 billion, driven by a high-yield environment in 2024.
To optimise its margin, the bank maintained asset yields above funding costs by maintaining a high low-cost deposit profile at 92.6 per cent.
This led to an increase in its Net Interest Margin from 8.1 per cent in 2023 FY to 12.0 per cent.
Similarly, the bank continued to deepen its market share in both the corporate and retail segments, with customer deposits increasing by 47.9 percent from N4 trillion in 2023 financial year to N5.9 trillion.
The increase was driven by strong double-digit growth across all deposit types.
The Retail Banking Business gained significant traction, with savings deposits increasing by 28.8 per cent to N1.1 trillion, marking the 10th consecutive year of double-digit annual growth in savings deposits.
In spite of the challenging economic conditions in 2024, the bank continued to support the real sector of the economy by increasing its Net Loans and Advances from N3.1 trillion in 2023 to N4.4 trillion in 2024.
“This remarkable performance demonstrates our capacity to deliver superior returns to our shareholders.
“In line with our commitment to them, we have declared a final dividend of N1.25 per share, bringing our total dividend for the 2024 financial year to N2.10 per share,” Onyeali-Ikpe explained.
Having consistently paid dividends since 2006, Fidelity Bank will pay investors a total dividend of N2.10 per share for the 2024 financial year.
This is subject to shareholders’ approval at its forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 29, 2025.
The dividends will be paid on April 29, 2025, to shareholders whose names appear on the register of members as of April 15, 2025.
The bank successfully completed the first phase of its capital raising exercise through a Public Offer and Rights Issue in 2024, which were oversubscribed.
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