In commemoration of this year’s National Diaspora Day event, Ecobank Nigeria is joining the rest of the country to celebrate Nigerians in the diaspora by making transactions on its proprietary money transfer app, Rapidtransfer, free of charge.
The Federal Government has set aside July 25 of every year as the National Diaspora Day in recognition of the contributions of Nigerians living outside the country towards the development of their homeland.
In a commemorative message, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan stated that Nigerians in the diaspora contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of the country. Mr. Akinwuntan lauded the decision of the Federal Government to set aside a special day every year as the National Diaspora Day, adding that the recent launch of the National Diaspora Policy (NDP) by the government would further promote and harness the resources and capacity of Nigerians in the diaspora towards national development.
“As a pan-African institution positioned to foster the economic growth and integration of our continent, we are particularly pleased to work closely with NiDCOM, ably led by the Chairman/CEO, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa towards the engagement of Nigerians in the diaspora on policies, projects and other initiatives geared at developing the nation. From our constant engagement with Nigerians in the Diaspora, we understand their peculiar needs and have created tailor-made solutions to serve them effectively.”
He noted further that Ecobank has partnered NiDCOM on webinars, diaspora quarterly lecture series and will continue to seek other collaboration opportunities to deepen engagement with the diaspora community.
Also speaking, Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Head, Consumer Banking, Ecobank Nigeria said Ecobank will apply zero fees to all Rapidtransfer transactions from 1st July till the end of October, 2021, thereby enabling Nigerians living abroad to send money to their loved ones affordably.
According to her, the decision to waive charges underscores the bank’s commitment to helping Nigerians abroad remit money home without placing an additional burden of charges on them, especially at this period of global economic downturn.
Rapidtransfer is Ecobank’s proprietary money transfer service which enables users send funds across borders, affordably and instantly. The Rapidtransfer app is available for use by Ecobank and non-Ecobank customers.
Remittances can be received directly into the recipient’s account or as cash at any Ecobank branch. Beneficiaries who wish to receive funds into an account but do not have domiciliary accounts have the opportunity to open in Euro, GBP or USD instantly and enjoy all the benefits that come with Ecobank foreign currency accounts.
In addition, N5 is paid on every one dollar received as cash or direct to account in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ongoing Naira for Dollar initiative.

About Ecobank Nigeria Limited
Ecobank Nigeria Ltd. is a subsidiary of the Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African banking group with operations in 33 African countries and presence in four other locations (London, Paris, Beijing and Dubai). Ecobank Nigeria is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organisations, medium, small and micro businesses and individuals. Ecobank is a major player in the distribution of financial services in Nigeria to various segments, leveraging digital channels and an expansive agency network of more than 30, 000 Xpress Points.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved a loan of $50 million to Nigeria’s First City Monument Bank (FCMB) to channel to local enterprises and women-empowered businesses in the agribusiness, manufacturing, healthcare and renewable energy sectors.
Thirty percent of the funds, which are intended to mitigate effects of the challenging Covid-19 environment, are earmarked for underserved women-empowered businesses.
In addition, the Bank will provide  a technical assistance grant of $200,000 through its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative supported by the Women Entrepreneurship Finance Initiative. The grant will complement the loan by enabling First City Monument Bank to provide non-financial services, including training, and to strengthen its monitoring and reporting functions.
“The African Development Bank is pleased to support FCMB’s strategy to become a dominant player in addressing the funding needs of women-empowered and local enterprises,” said Stefan Nalletamby, the African Development Bank’s Director of Financial Sector Development. “This project will extend valuable resources to critical but underserved segments during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, with its adverse macroeconomic impacts.”
Small- and medium-sized firms account for up to 80% of employment in most African countries and women-empowered businesses typically face a considerable financing gap. The Nigerian economy has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, and falling crude oil prices have had a ripple effect on the wider economy.
FCMB is a Nigerian commercial bank with around 5 million customers. It had total assets of around $5 billion as at the end of 2020.
The project aligns with the objectives of AFAWA, which aims to improve gender inclusivity by improving access to finance for women entrepreneurs. The project also advances the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy and is consistent with three of its High-5 strategic priorities:  Industrialize Africa, Feed Africa, and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa. It also aligns with the Nigeria Country Strategy Paper 2020-2024.
The African Development Bank is an implementing partner of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, a groundbreaking partnership housed in the World Bank Group that aims to unlock financing for women-led businesses in developing countries.

 The immediate past Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf says the banking industry demonstrated resilience amid disruptions associated with the pandemic, attributable to the policy intervention of the CBN.

“Going by key ratios, the banking industry is financially stable and sound with industry capital adequacy and liquidity ratios above regulatory threshold while non-performing loan ratio is slightly above the five percent prudential guideline.

“Cash reserve requirement remained elevated at 27.5 percent. A high CRR constrains banks from deploying funds into several profitable and productive ventures, thereby impacting their liquidity position.”

He said that the current CRR environment negates policy that mandates banks to lend at least 65 percent of customer deposits to the real sector and advocating for a flexible CRR policy that would reflect the actual level of a bank’s deposit at any time.

He projects a stable environment for banks and businesses in general in the second half of the year with recent developments such as the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill by the Ninth National Assembly after years of neglect.

Yusuf also expressed concern over excess borrowing by the Federal Government in the midst of dwindling revenue. He observed that a large portion of the domestic borrowing was through ways and means which has serious implications for inflation.

Ways and means is a mechanism for the government to borrow from the Central Bank under specified credit policy which, most times, entails printing money.

Yusuf said this at the Bi-Monthly Forum of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) held at its national secretariat in Lagos as part of its capacity building programme.

Speaking on the topic “Nigerian economy in first half 2021 & outlook for the financial services sector”, Dr Yusuf said that the borrowing spree  of the Federal Government was hurting the economy as it escalates the already high rate of inflation in the country.

He disclosed that the facility usually comes at a huge cost  to the taxpayer as the government paid  N480 billion interest on the N1.8 trillion facility granted to it through the ways and means window between January and May 2021.

He expressed concern that government’s excess borrowing has put pressure on the apex bank to exceed the “5 percent ceiling of actual government revenue for the preceding year”, specified in the CBN Act.

According to him, the fast rate of money supply has adverse effects on the people’s standard of living which has become a source of worry to Nigerians.

“It has inflationary implications; it is not healthy for the economy because inflation erodes the value of people’s income and affects their standard of living. The value of a currency has a lot to do with poverty and welfare. We must be worried about the fast rate of money supply because inflation triggers poverty,” he said.

He added that “Inflationary environment elevates production costs with adverse impact on corporate profitability, thereby making it increasingly difficult for businesses and corporates to meet their debt obligations to lending  institutions. This translates into a significant increase in credit loss provisions with adverse impact on banks’ profitability.”

“We need to caution the government against being too dependent on the CBN for financing deficits because of the high inflationary impact.  Inflation is a terrible thing. When people complain about hunger and poverty, it is because the money they have in their hands cannot buy anything much.”

Yusuf advised the government to prioritize its borrowing in the light of dwindling revenue, noting that up to 90 percent of the nation’s revenue is committed to debt servicing which he said should be a major concern to the Nigerians.

He suggested rationalisation of spending as a way out of excess borrowing, noting that borrowing to fund recurrent expenditure is inimical to economic development.

He also advised the government to consider private partnership in funding projects that require huge capital outlay as well as selling idle assets to raise funds for building infrastructure.

On foreign exchange volatility, the immediate past LCCI boss noted that the foreign exchange market faced liquidity constraints in the first half of 2021, and that forex was inadequate to meet rising demand.”

“The supply of foreign exchange was inadequate to meet rising demand. The rate premium between the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate (NAFEX) and the parallel market rate averaged around 20 percent.

“Several businesses and corporates encountered difficulties in sourcing foreign exchange at the formal segment of the market and were forced to source the greenback at the parallel market.

“Foreign exchange illiquidity aggravates investment risk which could negatively impact asset quality in the banking system. Foreign currency-denominated loans account for about between 30 percent and 35 percent of bank’s loan book. Foreign exchange volatility is associated with risks relating to asset quality and financial stability.”

He said that financial service institutions need a conducive business climate to create more avenues for investment and that more profitable asset classes are needed for profitable investments to take place.

He further stressed the need to address the structural, policy, institutional, and regulatory constraints in the business environment which would also result in a reduction in non-performing loans in the banking sector.

“Also, the National Assembly has passed the 2021 supplementary budget. The budget makes provision for vaccine procurement and security-related expenditures. Lawmakers have endorsed the move to raise $6.1 billion via the issuance of Eurobonds.

“Improvement in current vaccination rate is expected to improve economic and business activities in the country, which is positive for the sustenance of growth recovery.

“Inflation is expected to decelerate in the second half of the year on account of base effects and expectations of modest harvest, barring further exchange rate adjustment.

“With the deceleration in inflation rate, monetary policymakers would be further encouraged to keep policy parameters at current levels. Relative stability is anticipated in the foreign exchange market as CBN sustains its intervention efforts,” he said.