E-Financial
Union Systems Launches Optimus, Nigeria’s First Multibank Trade Finance Portal
Union Systems Limited, a leading financial technology company, has announced the launch of its new product, Optimus, the first multibank international trade finance portal in Nigeria.
Optimus enables corporates to initiate, process, and manage all international trade transactions across their banks from a single portal.
Optimus is a cloud-based application. It empowers corporates to have a consolidated view of all their trade transactions with different banks without having to visit the banking hall.
Corporates can collaborate and communicate with their teams, suppliers, bankers and other relevant stakeholders in the trade finance value-chain from anywhere in the world. It is available on both the web and mobile channels.
Optimus has eliminated the hassle of corporates having to log in to many bank portals to initiate trade transactions with different banks as these transactions can now be made and monitored from a single Portal.
Chuks Onyebuchi, chief executive officer, Union Systems Limited stated “We are very excited to introduce Optimus to the African market starting with Nigeria. Optimus has finally given corporates the control they have always demanded from their banks. It promotes collaboration on trade instruments among stakeholders unhindered by time zones, personal contact and channel. The product is intuitive making business users far less reliant on technical support from their IT staff and bank account managers.”
Chuks Onyebuchi
Optimus enables corporates to engage their supplier online real-time at the draft creation stage of Letters of Credit process. It is very secure and ensures interoperability between the corporates and their banks.
With Optimus, corporates can process and manage all CBN forms without visiting the bank and have a single view of their overall credit line utilization at a group level, promoting transparency and efficient management of their bank credit lines.
They can pay and print payment receipts of custom duties and NESS fees and manage all trade payment obligations across domiciled banks.
Corporates can also track their shipment from any country of supply to Nigeria and easily know the expected arrival date of their goods ahead of time.
“Optimus comes at the nick of time to address the unmet demands of the corporates and to support both corporates and banks to thrive in this new normal created by the pandemic. Optimus will decentralize trade finance operations for corporates by putting them in charge of their operations and interactions with their bank partners” said Ngozi Ilondu, head of Marketing, Union Systems Limited
Optimus is equipped with intelligent reporting from multiple data pools processed in few seconds to meet the diverse regulatory and management reporting demands across corporates subsidiaries and branches in different locations.
The Optimus dashboard and workflow are intuitive and configurable and can be tailored to a corporate’s operations assigning views and approvals to defined roles. It also ensures that at a glance, a corporate staff can see all pending tasks and messages.
Optimus is the new trade finance superpower for corporates. With Optimus, corporates are in charge. To see how Optimus works, request a demo on www.optimus-mb.com
Union Systems Limited (USL) is an Information Technology Company that provides financial software solutions and professional services to major banks in Africa.
The company provides software solutions to financial institutions to enhance their software capabilities, effectively scale processes, improve compliance and drive operational efficiencies.
With headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, the company has a deep understanding of the African market and has a team of highly qualified consultants that have real-world experience in the delivery of complex software solutions.
Top banks in Africa rely on Union Systems to deliver growth, profitability and regulatory compliance in financial software applications.
Nigerian banks have resumed processing international tuition payments from Naira accounts through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Form A portal.
Form A is an application form designed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay for service transactions (invisible trade).
The form allows customers to purchase foreign exchange at the CBN or interbank rate to make payments for eligible services as predetermined by the foreign exchange manual.
This development comes a month after commercial banks announced the resumption of international transactions on their naira cards.
In an email to customers, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited (GTBank) and Lotus Bank announced that the service is now available for applicants paying undergraduate and postgraduate tuition fees abroad.
“Pay international tuition fees directly from your Naira account,” the notice from GTBank read.
To access the service, customers are required to register and submit their applications via the Trade System Portal at www.tradesystem.gov.ng.
GTBank explained: “Select the ‘Form A’ application for Educational Fees. Choose GTBank as the processing bank, attach required documents, and submit the application.”
Similarly, Lotus Bank stated, “Register on the Trade System Portal. Select Form ‘A’ application for Educational Fees. Choose Lotus Bank as the processing bank, attach required documents, and submit the application.”
In a similar notice, Lotus Bank also informed customers of processing international fees using its facility.
“Register on the Trade System Portal (www.tradesystem.gov.ng). Select Form ‘A’ application for Educational Fees. Choose Lotus Bank as the processing bank, attach required documents, and submit the application,” the bank said.
In 2022, Nigerian banks said international school fees and upkeep requests via Form A will be processed within 120 days due to forex scarcity at the time.
Safaricom, M-PESA and PayPal have announced a strategic collaboration to enable account linking and seamless fund transfers across their networks.
This collaboration aims to empower more than 35 million M-PESA customers and two million businesses and micro traders in Kenya to access PayPal’s global network.
By first linking their PayPal and M-PESA wallets, users can easily transfer funds from their PayPal accounts into their M-PESA wallets, and vice versa. This service is designed to enhance the experience for customers and businesses transacting between the two platforms.
The solution is currently available to Safaricom M-PESA customers in Kenya, with plans to roll out the service to the other M-PESA markets in the future.
“As globalization and digitization continue to reshape how people and businesses connect, our partnership with PayPal is a bold step forward in enabling seamless, worry-free, safe, secure, and inclusive digital payments.
“This collaboration empowers over thirty-five million customers and two million businesses and micro-entrepreneurs across Kenya to participate in the global digital economy by conveniently sending and receiving payments across more than 200 markets. It’s part of our commitment to unlocking opportunities and transforming lives through the power of M-PESA,” said Esther Waititu, Chief Financial Services Officer, Safaricom PLC.
“Building seamless connections between the global economy and local financial ecosystems is crucial to expanding digital financial inclusion,” said Otto Williams, Regional Head and General Manager for the Middle East and Africa, PayPal. “We are thrilled to enable millions of M-PESA’s customers across Africa connect more easily to PayPal’s international customer base.”
For 18 years, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion and bridged the digital divide. With M-PESA Kadogo, introduced in 2016, Safaricom waived fees for transactions of Kshs 100 and below, making digital payments more accessible. Now, through Ziidi MMF, customers can invest from as little as Kshs 100, promoting a culture of saving and financial wellness.
The partnership will tap into the emergence and growing popularity of the gig economy that has seen a rise among Africans accepting online jobs for clients across the world.
It equally marks a growing trend of interoperability between fintech providers with a goal of providing customers with a digital financial ecosystem that meets their needs by combining different capabilities.
PayPal is a leading global payment processor with more than 400 million active PayPal accounts operating across 200 markets, while M-PESA is Africa’s leading mobile money service connecting more than 50 million customers across Africa, 2 million businesses and micro traders, with more than $1.1 billion transacted daily.
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.
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