E-Financial
Sterling Bank Reaffirms Commitment to Spotlighting Potentials in Creative Industries
Sterling Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading financial institution, has reiterated its determination to empower and energise the creative industry because of its strategic importance to the economic growth of Nigeria.”
Mr. Olanrewaju Olalusi, head of Media and Entertainment Financing at Sterling Bank, disclosed the above at the weekend in Lagos while addressing participants at a seminar organised by the Legends of Nollywood with the theme: “Empowering the Nigerian Film Industry – Actualizing Your Resources.”
He said the bank had begun exploring financing of the creative industries in addition to its HEART sectors programme because of its importance to the national economy.
Sterling Bank has become renowned for its strategic focus and investments in the Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation sectors of the Nigerian economy. These sectors have been affectionately dubbed the HEART of Sterling, and our HEART has contributed immensely to the growth of the bank, the sectors and the Nigerian economy.
Olalusi said it is important for artists to leverage funding from financial institutions to scale the level of their operations, remarking that the bank has set up a desk for the purpose of financing practitioners in the creative industry, information technology (IT) and animation, among others.
“We are open to having conversations with partners in the creative industry on the way forward.” He said.
He said that the industry was bustling with amazing talent and potential. But he highlighted a key challenge confronting the industry; a lack of viable business plans on the commercial perspective of creativity to show investors.
He continued by saying that there is a growing need for artists to separate their businesses from themselves and focus on improving their access to infrastructure and a ready market for their creative expressions.
Through collaborations with dedicated partners like Sterling, creatives can better their lot, both creatively and commercially, by leveraging financial advisory services, commercial loans, and other specially designed products to further capacity building and move the industry forward.
In a keynote address by Lagos State Commissioner of Planning and Budget, Mr. Samuel Egube, urged operators in the creative industry to think more deeply about how to seize available opportunities in the industry. He noted that if the industry must grow, then it should be able to attract financial resources from investors, adding that government alone cannot drive the growth in the industry.
He said the business plan should present a strong case to encourage investors to invest. He disclosed that the Lagos State Government has plans to build a media city in the Lekki axis for practitioners in the creative industry to leverage on under its 30-year development plan.
Also speaking, the President of the Association of Movie Producers, Mr. Paul Obazele encouraged his colleagues to lift the industry to a show business level by leveraging financial institutions to scale their operations instead of relying on grants alone.
Federal government has mandated banks and financial institutions to begin reporting monthly transactions exceeding N25 million for individuals and N100 million for firms to the tax authorities.
Under the new provisions of the Nigerian Tax Act, financial institutions are required to submit quarterly returns to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
The agency will be renamed to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) from January 2026, when the new tax system will take effect.
“Every person who has an obligation to deduct and remit tax under this Act or any other Returns for tax legislation shall render monthly returns to the appropriate tax authority, as specified deduction of tax in the regulation issued for that purpose,” the Act reads.
“Without prejudice to section 142 of this Act, every bank, insurance company, stock-broking firm, or any other financial institution, shall prepare, with or without demand be delivered by the relevant tax authority, quarterly returns to the relevant tax authority specifying the names and addresses of new customers;Nigerian fashion trends
“…and existing customers in the case of (i) an individual, all transactions where the cumulative transactions in a month amount to N25,000,000 or more, or (ii) a body corporate, all transactions where the cumulative transactions in a month amount to N100,000,000 or more.”
Prior to the new tax law, banks were mandated to report deposits of N5 million — a measure intended to curb illicit financial flows, according to TheCable
Experts said the shift is part of efforts to tighten anti-money laundering reporting in the financial sector.
In 2023, Nigeria was listed on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over deficiencies in tackling money laundering and terrorism financing.
Since then, the country has been making efforts to exit the grey list, which subjects it to increased monitoring by the FATF.
In November 2024, Hafsat Bakari, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), said Nigeria has achieved upgrades in five key recommendations from the FATF.
Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBS) has revealed that the number of active bank accounts in the country increased to 320 million in the first quarter of 2025.
NIBSS also announced that the country’s cashless transactions rose to N295 trillion in the that quarter, up from N237.11 trillion in the corresponding quarter of 2024.
NIBSS disclosed this in its latest report on the country’s financial sector.
According to the data, the report highlighted the growing reliance on digital payments nationwide.
Details from the report showed that electronic payment channels were used 2.21 billion times in Q1, while point-of-sale, PoS terminals recorded 776.94 million transactions.
The NIBSS report corroborates ACI Worldwide data, which indicated that the volume of Nigeria’s real-time payment transactions will reach 19.7 billion by 2028, up from 7.9 billion in 2023.
“In Nigeria, real-time payments are quickly becoming a viable alternative to cash, historically the dominant choice for payments in the country,” ACI said.
Mr Wale Edun, minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the Economy, has inaugurated Mr Thompson Oludare Sunday, new managing director/chief executive officer of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and Dr Kabir Sabo Katata, executive director (Operations), at the Ministry of Finance, Abuja.
Mr Wale Edun, minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the Economy, flanked by Mr Thompson Oludare Sunday, new managing director/chief executive officer of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and Dr Kabir Sabo Katata, executive director (Operations),
In his speech during the occasion, the Minister submitted that the NDIC, as a component of the financial safety-net has a crucial role to play in the nation’s march to economic stability and prosperity.
He therefore charged the Management team to bring their diverse wealth of experience to bear on their new assignment while assuring them of the ministry’s full support in the task ahead.
Responding, Mr Sunday who spoke on behalf of the Management team, expressed appreciation to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for their appointment.
He assured the Hon Minister of the readiness of the Management under his leadership to live up to expectations of the President in particular and the nation in general in the discharge of their duties.
The Management later received by the Corporation’s Head Office with a warm welcome by the workforce.
A statement signed by Hawwau Gambo, head, Communication & Public Affairs Department, revealed that Addressing the workers on behalf the Management team, Mr. Sunday promised to work in harmony with the staff to move the Corporation to its next level performance.
He stressed that the Management’s focus would be based on the public policy objectives, functions and mandate devolved on the Corporation by the enabling law that established it.
Thompson Oludare Sunday is a seasoned financial expert with over 30 years of regulatory and supervisory experience.
Having cut his teeth with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 1989, he went ahead to acquire high-end knowledge in Central Banking, spending 24 unbroken years in banking supervision.
While his vast experience is in the regulation and supervision of licensed institutions, his deep expertise span corporate governance, risk management and compliance as veritable tool for ensuring the safety and soundness of institutions.
He is a highly analytical and cross functional team worker with strong interest in building individual and institutional capacity for transformation and excellence.
Thompson’s skills and experience were horned by several key responsibilities and special assignments he handled for the apex Bank before his retirement as a Director 2021.
Kabir Sabo Katata, ED (Operations), is a quantitative energy strategist and computational finance expert with strong power trading and risk management experience.
He has over twenty-eight years’ experience in the design and management of technically innovative systems in multiple industries including telecommunications, IT, energy (petroleum & power), finance and government.
He is a specialist in sophisticated financial optimization, the application of modern statistical techniques and mathematics to energy, deposit insurance and banking sectors.
Dr. Katata joined the service of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2012 as an Assistant Director in the Research, Policy and International Relations Department and rose to the pinnacle of his career as Director in January 2022, before his new appointment as Executive Director (Operations).
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