From left to right:  Chief Experience Officer, Wema Bank,Adeyemi Oshundiya,  Chief Financial Officer, Wema Bank, Tunde Mabawonku, Head, Monitoring and Enforcement Lagos State Lottery Board, Mr. Tanko Olaseni, Lagos State Lottery Board, Mrs Oyinkan Kusamotu, Retail Divisional Head, Wema Bank, Dotun Ifebogun,, Representative of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Mrs. Susan Onwuka and Representative of the Monitory and Enforcement National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Mr. Niyi Adeleke at the grand finale of the ALAT  5for5 promo draw held at Wema Bank Towers in Lagos.

Winners have emerged in the ground-breaking final live draw of the 5for5 promo event held in Lagos on January 20, 2023. This event featured mouth-watering cash prizes of N10,000, N100,000 and the star prize of N1,000,000, which 2 lucky customers won.

Abubakar Bisoye Bisi of Broad Street Branch, Lagos and Toyeeb Hussain of Ondo Branch emerged the two lucky winners of N1 million each.  55 other customers won N10,000 each while another 20 others won N100,000 each in electronic draws conducted at the bank’s Head Office.

Season 1 of the promo began in 2021 as part of activities to reward its customers and encourage a healthy savings culture. This second edition closed the curtains on the second season of the 5for5 promo with an impeccable event line-up, social networking, and entertainment, which created a memorable experience for participants that participated physically in Lagos and virtually on Instagram Live on @alat_ng.

Speaking to pressmen during the event, The Chief Finance and Strategy Officer, Tunde Mabawonku, in his closing remarks, emphasised the uniqueness of the 5for5 promo grand finale, stating that it was designed to give a personalised feel to the event.

“One of the highlights of the event is to remind our customers that the bank and all of the activities we host are designed to help them navigate the various financial services we offer and make their experiences the best in the history of the Nigerian banking industry,” he stated. This is our way of thanking and rewarding customers for their loyalty.”

Speaking further, he said: “This season’s grand finale has been a success and it is already generating considerable interest in the banking industry and among shareholders.”

The Divisional Head, Retail Banking, Mr. Dotun Ifebogun, said the promo is a way of promoting the savings culture among customers as well as encouraging the use of the bank’s alternate digital channels.

He explained that participating customers needed to do five transactions using the alternate channels as qualification criterion.

During the cheque presentation ceremony, the newly appointed Managing Director, Moruf Oseni expressed his unwavering faith in the promo event and its enormous impact on the banking community. In addition, he praised the efforts of the organising committee, the able knights, and every other participant in the event’s success.

The stakeholders of Wema Bank praised the bank’s management and board for their shrewd leadership and customer-centric values, which contributed to the success of second season of the promotion.

Wema Bank pledges to return with a bigger and better third season of the 5for5 promo and urges customers to keep an eye out for this upcoming event and many other opportunities to improve their lives.

The second edition of the ALAT 5for5 promo, a six-month-long mega reward programme, is set to witness an all-action finale this month that will see both new and existing customers in attendance in Lagos.

The Promo, which commenced on June 1st, 2022 is set to come to a fitting conclusion on Friday, January 20 2023-the day of the live draws, after an exciting season marked by monthly rewards, account activation events, incentives for app downloads, and other unmatched deals for new and existing account holders across all Wema Bank branches.

This remarkable event will excite customers, stakeholders, and interested parties in Lagos, as it ushers in the last group of millionaires during the final month of the promo. Abuja customers were the first to receive the 5for5 goodies in July 2022, when the first two millionaires, in the second season, were created.

Speaking about the grand finale that is set to take place in Lagos, the Divisional Head, Retail Business, at Wema Bank, Dotun Ifebogun, said:

“We introduced the first season of this promo in 2021, to reward our loyal customers, foster healthy customer relationships, and help them develop a better savings culture. And we have been able to achieve these and much more. The feedback from customers and businesses has been impactful, and we’re pleased to know that we are positively impacting lives.”

“We promised to reward over 500 customers during the beginning of this second season to help make a difference in the lives of our customers financially. So far, we have made this dream a reality, and we hope to continue making a difference in the lives of Nigerians.”

Wema Bank, a leading and innovative financial institution, is keeping its promise to make this final promotional month as exciting as possible for its clients.

Speaking about the activities lined up for the grand finale, Ms. Temitope Ogundeji, Head, Liability Products, Wema Bank, stated: “We have various exciting events and offers for customers during the grand finale of the 5for5 promo, so we urge them to come to witness the promo draw live or follow the event on Instagram live.”

A statement by Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, Director, Corporate Communications at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has resumed duty after his annual vacation abroad.

Emefiele, who proceeded on leave in December 2022, resumed work on Monday, January 16, 2023.

The Governor resumed with renewed vigour to perform his duty ahead of the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the year scheduled for January 23 to 24, 2023. Mr. Emefiele remains committed to performing the task before him in line with his oath of office and the policy direction of President Muhammadu Buhari.

While thanking the public for keeping faith with the Bank, we urge Nigerians to continue to support the policies of the Bank aimed at ensuring a stable financial system and the Nigerian economy in general.

Guaranty Trust Bank UK Limited (GTBank UK) has reached settlement with the FCA, accepting findings in relation to historical Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls in its operations in the period of October 2014 to July 2019.

The Bank has cooperated fully with the FCA investigation and has agreed a penalty sum of GBP7,671,800, which has been calculated by reference to a proportion of the revenues of GTBank UK over the relevant period and includes a 30% discount for early settlement.

The FCA’s investigation focused on GTBank UK’s AML controls and steps taken by GTBank UK to remediate these to ensure they operated in line with the relevant requirements. The findings are final, and no further action is anticipated in respect of this matter. The FCA acknowledged in its findings that GTBank UK has spent considerable time and resource in order to bring its AML standards up to the required level.

Commenting on the issue, Managing Director of GTBank UK, Mr. Gbenga Alade, said: “As a responsible financial services institution that is committed to best practices, GTBank UK takes its AML obligations extremely seriously. We note with sincere regret the FCA’s findings regarding AML control gaps in our operations in the past and we are very sorry for this.”

He further stated: “We would like to assure all our stakeholders and the general public that necessary steps have been taken to address and resolve the identified gaps. Whilst there was no direct customer impairment arising from the period under review [and the FCA’s findings do not include any instances of suspected money laundering], we have since reinforced our AML control framework and implemented changes in our AML processes in line with best practice with a view to ensuring that the highest standards are maintained in our operations.”

The Guaranty Trust Banking Group, including GTBank UK is fully committed to the fight against all forms of financial crime and to continuing to meet all applicable financial crime regulations and legislation globally. Our AML policies and controls, together with our overall risk management strategy, are regularly reviewed and revised to ensure that they remain relevant and current in line with the evolving regulatory requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

On 10 January 2023, GTBank UK announced that it had reached settlement with the FCA, accepting findings in relation to historical anti-money laundering (AML) controls in its operations and agreeing to pay a penalty of GBP7,671,800 which includes a 30% discount for early settlement.

Commenting on the issue, Managing Director of GTBank UK, Mr. Gbenga Alade, said: “As a responsible financial services institution that is committed to best practices, GTBank UK takes its AML obligations extremely seriously. We note with sincere regret the FCA’s findings regarding Anti-Money Laundering (AML) control gaps in our operations in the past and we are very sorry for this.”

He further stated: “We would like to assure all our stakeholders and the general public that necessary steps have been taken to address and resolve the identified gaps. Whilst there was no direct customer impairment arising from the period under review [and the FCA’s findings do not include any instances of suspected money laundering], we have since reinforced our AML control framework and implemented changes in our AML processes in line with best practice with a view to ensuring that the highest standards are maintained in our operations.”

• Why Has GTBank UK Accepted This Settlement?

Following the FCA’s investigation into its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls during the period of October 2014 to July 2019, GTBank UK agreed to a settlement as part of the process of addressing historical issues and against a background of more recent improvements to its AML framework.

The investigations focused on gaps in GTBank UK’s AML processes in a period dating back to 2014 and running to a point in 2019 when GTBank had carried out significant remediation in relation to these matters.

• What Markets Were Impacted?

The FCA’s findings focused on our business operations in the United Kingdom only and does not apply to our subsidiaries outside of the UK.

• Why Did This Happen?

The FCA found that some of our historic AML controls and processes did not operate in line with relevant regulatory requirements. We have since taken the necessary steps to address the FCA’s concerns.

• How Does This Impact Your Customers?

There was no direct customer impairment. We however recognise that effective AML controls inspire customer trust and ensure better outcomes for communities where we operate.

• What Steps Have You Made in Improvements to GTBank UK’s AML Framework?

In summary, we have enhanced our AML control framework through a comprehensive remediation programme to address the specific issues identified in the FCA’s findings and obtained specialist advice and review from external advisors.

As relevant to the FCA’s findings, these steps have included enhancements to our AML policies, to our procedures relating to onboarding, customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring, and other AML related processes and enhancements to staff training. We have also conducted a comprehensive programme of work to review and as necessary remediate our customer files, which have been subject to review by external consultants.

We have also continued to invest in people and systems to ensure sustained adherence to our AML controls and to protect our customers and the communities where we operate. In the last seven years, we have made significant infrastructure investments in enhancing our AML control framework.

For example, in the last three years alone, we have invested over £10m in transaction monitoring and screening platforms to transform our control framework across the Group.  We have also made significant investments to staff training.

This has included providing our staff with further specialist training from external experts, developing our approach to internally led AML training and enhancing our controls relating to administering AML training.

Throughout the remediation process, we have taken advice from highly skilled advisors, including FCA-approved consultants, to guide the Bank through the changes required to enhance its AML control framework and related processes.

This has included review and advice on the Bank’s governance arrangements and culture relevant to AML compliance.

About Guaranty Trust Bank UK

Guaranty Trust Bank (UK) Limited (GTBank UK) is a limited company incorporated in England and Wales (05969821) with registered office at 60-62 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8TF. The Bank is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

GTBank UK is fully committed to the fight against all forms of financial crime and to continuing to meet all applicable financial crime regulations and legislation globally. Our AML policies and controls, together with our overall risk management strategy, are regularly reviewed and revised to ensure that they remain relevant and current in line with the evolving regulatory requirements.

Heritage Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s most innovative service providers, has emerged as the first financial institution in Nigeria to win the “Best Supporting Bank with Central Bank of Nigeria’s Information on Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).”

The apex bank recently awarded Heritage Bank at the Bankers’ Award Night organised and held by the CBN Bankers’ Committee in Abeokuta for its robust publications of information in the media space on the several feats around the ABP.

The CBN also noted that Heritage Bank has continued to be a key financial partner that is creating economic linkages with small farmers and reputable large-scale processors, with a view of increasing agricultural output and significantly improving the capacity utilisation of processors.

Commenting on the recognition, Managing Director of the Bank, Akinola George-Taylor said:

“The award reflects our strong business fundamentals, resilience, and commitment to transforming Nigeria’s agricultural value-chain. With the support of the bank, we have helped farmers boost the production of commodities and stabilise inputs supply to agro-processors which has helped in addressing the country’s food insecurity.

“As a strategic partner that is complementing the efforts of CBN and other stakeholders in the agric sector, we have continued to communicate the broad objectives of ABP.  The bank has focused on increasing finance to the agricultural sector, the creation of new generations of farmers/entrepreneurs, and growing employment rates. This has led to the reduction of agricultural commodity importation and conservation of external reserves, and the assistance of rural smallholder farmers to grow to commercial production levels, amongst others.”

Heritage Bank has remained the pioneer Bank in financing the first ever large-scale rain-fed wheat production in Nigeria and is a prominent participating financial institution (PFI) under CBN’s ABP scheme.

Heritage Bank Plc in partnership with CBN has also disbursed N41billion to farmers from 14 states for the expansion of wheat production.

Wema Bank Plc emerged as the best-performing financial stock on the Nigerian Exchange during the 2022 financial year.

In a report titled “The Best Performing Stocks in Nigeria in 2022,” Nairametrics compiled and analysed the best-performing stocks in 2022, comparing their share prices as of December 31st, 2021, and December 30th, 2022. The analysis considered all 159 publicly listed companies during the period.

According to the report, Wema Bank’s share price appreciated by a whopping 441.7 percent. This helped it to close the 2022 year at N3.9, down from the 72 kobo recorded at the end of 2022.

The bank recorded a healthy 51% increase in gross earnings in the first nine months of 2022 and a 31% increase in post-tax profit. Investors rallied around the bank’s stocks despite a general downturn in most banking stocks during the year.

Similarly, Wema Bank declared a final dividend of 24 kobo per ordinary share to its shareholders in 2021.

This fuels speculation that increased profitability in 2022 could suggest a better dividend payout to shareholders. The Nigerian equity market rallied by 19.98% in 2022, higher than the 6.07% recorded in the previous year.

After many years of dividend freezes, the bank has resumed dividend payment to shareholders in the last three years. Wema has modernised its processes and has increasingly leveraged digital technologies to serve its customers, boosting efficiency and productivity in the process.

Additionally, the bank enjoyed a profitable year in terms of its financial performance and equity performance. Nairametrics ranked the bank as the best-performing commercial bank in the first half of 2022 based on metrics from its financial statements. Wema Bank also won the “Highest Dividend Yield” award at the Pearl Awards in 2022.