The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has reiterated that Ecobank remains the gateway financial institution for African regional trade.

Akinwuntan who was speaking at the Ecobank Digital Series virtual Africa Trade Conference 2020 titled: ‘Facilitating Regional Trade in the emerging AfCFTA Era’ maintained that Ecobank, the pan – African bank was set up to be the leader in intra-Africa trade, adding that leveraging on its knowledge, footprint and digital payment platforms, the bank is set to lead the financial services support for the new Africa Continental Free Trade Area.

According to him, “while intra Africa trade provides opportunity for the growth of our economy in Africa, Ecobank is ‘the go to bank’ for Africa regional trade”. He stressed that the Ecobank Regional Trade conference was designed to “primarily explore the massive trade opportunity before us in Africa, particularly after the pandemic. Ecobank decided to set the agenda for Africa to take its place in global trade. The opportunity is massive: with market size of 1.2 billion, estimated GDP of $2.5 billion, Africa free trade area is the largest since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO); more than 65 member states across the African union, population to reach 2.5 billion by 2050.”

Also speaking, Segun Awolowo, Executive Director/ Chief Executive, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), said with a market of 1.2 billion people and combined GDP of $3 trillion, there is huge potential for Nigeria to increase its export to Africa.

According to him, most exports had been informal exports but with platforms, like Ecobank, it is going to be official and add real value to the economy.  He said in 2018, the export value of Nigeria to Africa totaled around $6.99 billion but its export to the rest of the world totaled $45.92 billion. However, Nigeria export is majorly crude oil and natural gas which constitute 91%.

Speaking on “International trade, the pan African perspective”, Tei Konzi, Commissioner, Trade, customs and free movement, ECOWAS, represented by Kolawale Sofola, Acting Director, Trade ECOWAS said 85 % of our products go outside the continent and this must be changed. “We can bring such trade back to Africa and increase activity in the continent in agriculture, mining amongst others.  We are yet to conclude our tariffs, but at the moment, ECOWAS trade more with outside countries than it does with African countries and this is why we are bent on making sure the AfCFTA succeeds.”

He noted that the AfCFTA is a comprehensive trade agreement that seeks to create a single market for goods and services and free movement of persons through the progressive liberation of the market  for goods and services and also contribute to the movement of capital to facilitate investment. He said it is meant to be the foundation of continental customs union at a later stage.

The Ecobank Nigeria ‘Africa Trade Conference 2020’  which is part of the Ecobank Digital Series is to showcase Ecobank’s unique intra-Africa trade solutions that enable settlements of international transactions and mitigation of payment risk while providing regional solutions to exporters.

Ecobank trade products and solutions are designed around two broad areas; trade finance and trade services. Trade Finance enables customers benefit from adequate and well mitigated credit facilitation in the area of Import finance, export finance, bill discounting, trade loans, distributor finance, payables and receivables finance, structured trade and commodity finance amongst others while trade services, offer our customers the advantage of speedy turn around and error free processing of their import letter of credits, import collections, avalised bills, Customs bonds, export collections as well as their local purchase orders and payment invoices, via our electronic trade platforms OMNI e-Trade and OMNI eFSC (electronic financial supply chain.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and its parent company, Standard Bank, have emerged amongst the top winners of the 2020 Tech Times’ Africa LinkedIn Corporate Brand Awards.

The Stanbic IBTC Group emerged second position in the category, with total votes of 3,515, out of 24 firms nominated for the award. Standard Bank placed fourth 2,494 votes.

Nominations for this award opened to the public on July 1, 2020 and closed on July 14. Shortlisted nominees were announced on August 24 while voting commenced immediately. Voting ended on September 8, 2020.

The Corporate Brand Awards was instituted by Tech Times’ Africa, an online platform for leading technology, innovation and startup stories.

Expressing his delight on the awards, Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, Dr Demola Sogunle said that both Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and Standard Bank had been deliberate and consistent in making a remarkable impact in Africa’s financial sector.

“Our sincere appreciation goes to the organisers of the Africa Corporate Brands Awards and to every member of the public who voted. This is a reflection of the high level of trust andconfidence that the public has reposed on us,” he added.

Dr Sogunle further said that Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC would remain relentless in portraying the organisation as one of the most influential corporate brands in Africa.

He stated: “Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and Standard Bank have relentlessly contributed to driving the growth and development of the African financial ecosystem. These awards affirm our efforts, and we are encouraged to raise the bar continually.”

The Africa Corporate Brand Award is designed to identify and recognise outstanding companies. It also projects their achievements and impacts on African society and the world at large.

Chief Executive /Executive Director, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Segun Awolowo has said with a market of 1.2 billion people and combined GDP of $3 trillion, there is huge potential for Nigeria to increase its export to Africa.

According to him, most of exports had been informal exports, but with platforms like Ecobank, it is going to be formal and add real value to the economy.  He said in 2018, the export value of Nigeria to Africa totaled around $6.99 billon but its export to the rest of the world totaled $45.92 billion. However, Nigeria’s export is majorly crude oil and natural gas which constitute 91%.

Mr. Awolowo, who was speaking at the Ecobank Digital Series virtual Africa Trade Conference 2020, revealed that using the international trade center export’s tool, NEPC has identified areas of untapped potential for Nigeria in Africa such as fertilizer, ginger and sesame, as these are what other African countries are buying.

“Nigeria must, and can, live in a world where it no longer sells oil. Nigeria is working on key game changers in infrastructure in order to achieve this, especially in the area of ease of transportation and also in the area of incentives, export expansion grant like pre-shipment incentives and export development fund, which serve to prepare, facilitate and support exporters to the global market.”

Speaking on “International trade, the pan African perspective”, Tei Konzi, Commissioner, Trade, Customs and Free Movement, ECOWAS, represented by Kolawole Sofola, Acting Director, Trade ECOWAS said 85% of our products go outside the continent and this must be changed. “We can bring these trades back to Africa and increase activity in the continent in agriculture, mining amongst others.  We are yet to conclude our tariffs, but at the moment, ECOWAS trade more with outside countries than it does with African countries and this is why we are bent on making sure the AfCFTA succeeds”.

He noted that the AfCFTA is a comprehensive trade agreement that seek to create a single market for goods and services and free movement of persons through the progressive liberation of the market  for goods and services and also contribute to the movement of capital to facilitate investment. He said it is meant to be the foundation of continental customs union at a later stage.

In his presentation, the Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Ade Ayeyemi has reiterated that African countries must adopt a continent wide approach to business and also focus on wealth creation to be relevant in the global value chain.  According to Ayeyemi for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to become a reality there must be commitment and readiness for trade facilitation by the individual nations.

He noted that African governments must unequivocal commit to the agreement and their preparedness as individual nations with their implementation strategies, commitment to free movement-signing and ratification of protocol on free movement of people and country’s Visa openness, readiness for trade facilitation – quality of trade infrastructure and efficiency of ports/Customs, which is still work in progress in nearly all countries.

Ayeyemi noted that Ecobank is fully committed to Africa as the foremost Pan-African Bank to Unequivocal support for the implementation of AfCFTA, readiness to use its unique pan-African platform to facilitate trade, payment and business and deployment of its strong Africa knowledge to support governments and businesses. The Ecobank CEO emphasized that “no country is so poor that it has nothing to give and no country is so rich that it has nothing to receive. All of us must come together to become better.”

The  Ecobank virtual Nigeria ‘Africa Trade Conference 2020’  which is part of the Ecobank Digital Series is to showcase Ecobank’s unique intra-Africa trade solutions that enable settlements of international transactions and mitigation of payment risk while providing regional solutions to exporters.

Ecobank trade products and solutions are designed around two broad areas; Trade Finance and Trade Services. Trade Finance enables customers benefit from adequate and well mitigated credit facilitation in the area of Import finance, export finance, bill discounting, trade loans, distributor finance, payables and receivables finance, structured trade and commodity finance amongst others while trade services, offer our customers the advantage of speedy turn around and error free processing of their import letter of credits, import collections, avalised bills, Customs bonds, export collections as well as their local purchase orders and payment invoices, via our electronic trade platforms OMNI e-Trade and OMNI eFSC (electronic financial supply chain).

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has rated Ecobank Nigeria Academy as one of the best banking training institutes in the country.

At its award ceremony as part of its 13^th Annual Banking And Finance Conference in Abuja last week, CIBN, the umbrella body of all employees of financial institutions in the country announced Ecobank Nigeria Academy as the third best among all the banks in the country.

Since the accreditation of the state of the art Ecobank Nigeria Academy in August 2019, it has served as a platform to train thousands of professional bankers in different categories, including Entry Level employees, Graduate and Management Trainees and a cross section of staff recertification training.

Commenting, Ayotunde Opeoluwa, Manager, Learning and Development, Ecobank Nigeria, said the award was a welcome development to the bank as the Academy was only accredited a year ago, stating that the bank will continue to churn out excellently trained banking professionals at various levels  Opeoluwa who is also the head of the Academy further said “This is good news for us as a bank. It reinforces our people centric strategy to equipping our staff with the right skills and competence in line with global practices. Let me use this opportunity to thank our Management for the great support and members of our internal faculty for their dedication toward achieving this milestone. We will continue to seek improvement to maintain industry and global standards.”

In presenting certificate of accreditation to the ultra-modern, state of the art Ecobank Nigeria Academy last year, CIBN said the accreditation was based on the report of its Capacity Building and Certification Committee that the training school has met all the parameters of measurement, stressing that it was a manifestation of the importance the Management of the bank place on capacity building of its workforce.

According to the Institute, “As an Institute, we congratulate Ecobank for the accreditation of its Academy. This comes after rigorous accreditation processes by members of our Capacity Building and Certification Committee which showed that Ecobank has complied with and satisfied the provisions and requirements of the Competency framework for the Nigerian Banking Industry as mandated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through CIBN.  The Academy was found to have scored above the threshold on all the parameters of measurement. We firmly believe this accreditation would not only enable Ecobank comply with the provisions of the Competency Framework but also strengthen the intellectual resources and capabilities available in the bank.”

The state of the art academy Ecobank Academy is a deliberate policy by Ecobank to train and equip its workforce is in line with its transformation drive to make the bank the most preferred financial institution in the country.

As a response to COVID-19, the Academy has recently organised virtual graduation ceremony for 53 Management Trainees and 57 graduate trainees following an intensive training programme.  The trainees have since been absolved into the bank as full time employees.

The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has reiterated that the future of Nigerian banking would continue to be shaped by innovations and technology disruptions, stressing that only financial institutions that are amenable to such transformation will remain relevant in the sector. According to Akinwuntan, there was no way banks can remain competitive and relevant without embarking on digital transformation. He noted that banking has come to represent ‘what you do’ without necessarily referring to a particular location.

In his words “there is massive disruptions in the banking space and this is good of the sector. Take a second look at the evolution in the use of cards in ATM and PoS today and its interoperability, USSD, agency banking, blockchain, crypto currency and others. The sector is being democratized for full participation. What about the mobile phone which was essentially for receiving calls but today every Nigeria can make transaction on their phones using the mobile app, or the USSD string. The whole idea is bringing financial services to every household so that we can all participate effectively in the growth of the largest economy in Africa.”

Akinwuntan who was speaking on “Innovations and disruptions: How Fintechs are defining our future at the 13^th annual banking and finance conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) pointed out that Fintechs are making impacts in the financial services.

Also speaking, Ade Bajomo, Executive Director, Information & Operations, Access Bank, said the emergence of Fintechs startups is threatening to displace incumbents with innovative solutions, noting that digital transformation was no longer optional as companies can no longer stay relevant and compete with others than going through digital transformation process.

He observed that the journey from the industrial age into the information age, more specifically the birth of internet, has unlocked unprecedented disruption of business models.

Further Bajomo said “Digital disruption will hit every industry; it is what you make of it that counts. Fintechs are instrumental to closing the financial inclusion gap. Regulation is key to building the desired Fintech ecosystem. Cyber security will be one of the top risks facing financial institutions, upskilling and reskilling is key. Any bank that doesn’t have an online platform will struggle to survive the pandemic. “

The attention of the management of Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC has been drawn to news currently circulating in the media, about the alleged arraignment of staff of the Bank on charges bordering on the theft of customers deposits.

The Bank would like to clarify that the defendant, a 22-year-old Tope Olajide IS NOT, and was at no point in time an employee of Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC.

The alleged culprit was apprehended around 7:30 am, on Thursday, 27 August 2020, by security operatives after he was exposed by CCTV footage using ATM cards he had allegedly stolen and converted, to make withdrawals from the accounts tied to the stolen ATMs.

The CCTV footage also showed the alleged culprit pretending to assist customers at ATMs whilst also attempting to fraudulently dispossess the customers of their ATMs.

He was subsequently arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate Court on Monday, 14 September, for stealing the debit cards of two customers and using them to unlawfully withdraw the sum of N427,000. 

The Bank would also like to implore members of the public to be security conscious when conducting transactions at ATMs. Customers are advised to report any suspicious actions around them to security operatives who are usually stationed around the Bank’s ATMs, when carrying out transactions at any of our ATM locations.

As an organisation, we hold dear the values of integrity, and we will continue to prioritise the safety of our customers effectively.