‘Linkage Assurance Financially Strong to Deliver Quality Services’

27/02/2019

Underwriting firm, Linkage Assurance Plc is financially strong and able to deliver qualitative insurance services that will meet the expectation of customers, Mr. Daniel Braie, Managing Director/CEO of the company said in Lagos.

Mr. Braie who addressed the insurance brokerage fraternity at their February 2019 Members Evening said the Board and Management of Linkage Assurance Plc is excited to present to the group a competitive brand to partner with.

Linkage Assurance Plc played host to the Members Evening held at the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) Secretariat in Alagomeji Yaba, Lagos.

Braie told the brokers led by its President Mr. Sola Tinubu that Linkage Assurance Plc has strengthened its internal structures to deliver quality and efficient services.

“We have strengthened our internal structures to ensure that claims are handled with speed, because we realise that this is the main reason we are in business, and we will ensure it is sustained”

According to Braie, the human capital structure of the company has also been beefed up with the recent appointment of the Executive Director, Technical, among others who are already adding value to our operations and systems, for the benefit of our esteemed customers, he said.

“We have also increased our capacity to do more volume businesses as evidenced by the increase in our reinsurance treaty across all classes of insurance”.

The company total assets stood at N23.31 billion at the end of 2017, moving up by 15 percent from N20.33 billion in the previous year.

Linkage has developed array of retail products targeted at deepening penetration and increase revenue. These include the Linkage Third Party Plus, which is a budget friendly motor insurance that provides not only the compulsory Third party protection but an additional Own damage protection to the tune of N250, 000, and is only available in the company”.

Other products launched by the Company are the Linkage SME Comprehensive, Citadel Shield (which provides compensation as a result of injuries from accident for pupils and students in recognized academic establishments); Linkage Events Xclusive Insurance, Linkage Shop Insurance, Purple Motor Plan (comprehensive motor cover exclusively for women), and the Linkage Estate Insurance.

Linkage has also deployed its online portal to make its products and services available to customers especially the digital savvy customers and enterprises.

Linkage Assurance Plc was incorporated on 26th March, 1991 and was licensed to cover and transact non-life insurance businesses on 7th October, 1993.

Emirates Skywards Feted at Loyalty Awards 2019

Business Journal

27/02/2019

For the second consecutive year, Emirates Skywards, the loyalty programme of Emirates and flydubai, was presented with the accolade for ‘Excellence in Management’ at the Loyalty Awards 2019 dinner held in Paris on 19 February, 2019.

The award was collected by Dr. Nejib Ben Khedher, Senior Vice President, Emirates Skywards.

The awards ceremony was organised during the 15th edition of the Loyalty & Awards Conference by Global Flight, a leading independent management company focusing on customer loyalty and loyalty programmes in the travel industry.

In 2018, Emirates Skywards was recognised for its use of data science to optimise member engagement through relevant and timely offers.

This year Emirates Skywards earned top honours for continuing to take personalisation to the next stage by introducing its industry-first, dynamic flight upgrade and Cash+Miles promotions for members who log in and book their flights via Emirates.com.

The targeted offers which are easy to access and positioned visibly during the booking experience, are driven by over 150 parameters linked to the member’s loyalty status and flight selection. The system will be further enhanced in the coming months with the use of advanced predictive modelling and artificial intelligence as well as by making this functionality available on Emirates’ mobile channels.

“A core principle that drives the Emirates Skywards loyalty programme is to constantly enhance the value that our members can derive from their Miles by evolving our propositions. To this end, our ‘in-path’ offers available when booking on Emirates.com provide an attractive opportunity for members to realise tangible savings when using their Miles to access upgrade rewards and purchase Cash+Miles tickets. Since launch in 2018, we’ve witnessed considerable growth in engagement with members redeeming nearly 1.5 billion miles on these offers,” said Dr Nejib Ben Khedher.

Emirates Skywards currently has a global base of over 23 million members. Over the last 12 months, the programme has significantly broadened its value proposition to members by offering not only more opportunities to earn Miles but also combining them with more avenues to utilise Miles.

In addition to expanding the programme, Emirates Skywards is also enriching its content on digital channels by leveraging the Emirates app to better communicate opportunities to earn and spend Miles to members.

Last month, Emirates Skywards inaugurated its new one stop customer touch point in Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport (DXB).

The Emirates Skywards Centre is open to both new and existing members of the loyalty programme and will provide assistance across a wide range of services including programme enrolment, profile creation, partnership awareness and consultation on all Skywards Miles related enquiries.

About Emirates Skywards

Emirates Skywards, the award-winning loyalty programme of Emirates and flydubai, offers four tiers of membership – Blue, Silver, Gold and Platinum – with each membership tier providing exclusive privileges. Emirates Skywards members earn Skywards Miles when they fly on Emirates, flydubai or partner airlines, or when they use the programme’s designated hotels, car rentals, financial, leisure and lifestyle partners. Skywards Miles can be redeemed for an extensive range of rewards, including tickets on Emirates or flydubai plus Emirates Skywards partner airlines, hotel accommodation, excursions and exclusive shopping.

MainOne, Facebook Unveil Open-access Fiber Network in Nigeria

Business Journal

27/02/2019

MainOne has announced a metro fiber infrastructure project in two states of Nigeria, with support from Facebook. The infrastructure collaboration is part of Facebook’s efforts to connect more people to Broadband Internet.

As part of this project, MainOne is building and operating approximately 750 km terrestrial fiber infrastructure in Edo and Ogun States, two of Nigeria’s fastest growing states.
These open-access transport networks will provide metro fiber connectivity to reach more than 1,000,000 people in Benin City, Abeokuta, Sagamu and 10 other towns by connecting mobile operators’ base stations, Internet Service providers, Points of presence (POPs), and public locations including schools and hospitals.

This partnership will leverage MainOne’s strength as a wholesale Telecoms Infrastructure service provider with investment from Facebook and support from local regulatory and state authorities to further deepen broadband penetration in Nigeria.
Speaking on the partnership, Ibrahima Ba, Network Investments Lead for Emerging Markets at Facebook, said: “We are working closely with MainOne and other partners to accelerate broadband deployment. In Nigeria, we are bringing together Facebook’s learnings from scaling our global infrastructure with MainOne’s knowledge of the local environment to develop and test new working models for multiple operators to access common infrastructure.”
Funke Opeke, MainOne’s Chief Executive Officer, lauded the collaboration and the commitment of Facebook and authorities in Nigeria to improving broadband penetration across the country. Commenting on the partnership, she added:

“MainOne has always been committed to broadband innovation, job creation, as well as growing the digital economy of West Africa. We believe that this partnership and the open-access network we have developed will be beneficial to improving the quality of access and accelerating the digital transformation in Ogun and Edo States.”

“Our future lies in regional integration. We need resources to move forward,” say Central Africa Governors

Business Journal

27/02/2019

Akinwumi Adesina President African Development Bank

Bank Group Governors for Central Africa came to attend a consultative meeting during which they had fruitful discussions with the senior management

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, February 27, 2019/ — “Your presence at the Bank’s headquarters matters. So is your voice. It is encouraging hearing you,” says Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), addressing the institution’s Governors for Central Africa, on 26 February in Abidjan.

Like their West Africa counterparts on Monday, Bank Group Governors for Central Africa came to attend a consultative meeting during which they had fruitful discussions with the senior management. They came from all parts of the central African region: Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad and Equatorial Guinea, to review national and regional projects and, with the Bank’s leaders, to lay the foundations for further development of their region.

African Development Bank Vice-President and Chief Economist, Célestin Monga gave an economic overview of the continent and more specifically of Central Africa, highlighting the main challenges to inclusive growth, peace and security, sound macroeconomic management and stability, the development and strengthening of basic infrastructure, and effective regional integration. He also emphasised the need for the States of the region to diversify their economies through agribusiness, fisheries and livestock. Gabon’s Governor, Hilaire Machima echoed this view: “This policy is already bearing fruit, since the government of my country has been working for several years on processing wood within the country. There are currently some 80 wood-processing companies in Gabon.”

The Bank’s Director General for Central Africa, Ousmane Doré, spoke of the significant impact Bank-financed projects have on people’s lives. “The Bank’s commitments in the region totalled $13 billion in 2018, through 531 operations in all,” he said, adding that 2019 would be a year of even deeper cooperation with the region and citing several major projects financed by the Bank. Thanks to the African Development Fund, four of the seven countries of the region – Cameroon, the CAR, Republic of Congo, and Chad – have been connected by a road corridor in under ten years. These links have enabled a fivefold reduction in transport costs between production and consumption areas. Another example is the programme to facilitate transport between Douala (Cameroon), Bangui (CAR) and Ndjamena (Chad), allowing trade to develop in the area and outside the CEMAC zone, and further improving the efficiency of the transport logistics chain.

In the energy sector, two projects have come to fruition, one in Kribi in Cameroon and the other, the interconnection of power grids between the CAR and the DRC. The ‘Central African Backbone’ fibre optic project in Cameroon, DRC and CAR aims to improve connectivity, e-banking and the information provision on markets and the business climate. The Bank has also financed a project to improve the drinking water supply in the city of Libreville, Gabon. During the Africa Investment Forum last year, the African Development Bank, Africa50 and other partners concluded a $500 million funding agreement for the construction of the first road-rail bridge to connect two Congolese neighbours, Republic of Congo, and the DRC.

To highlight the importance to the Bank of a general capital increase, Vice-President for Finance, Swazi Tshabalala cast her mind back to the strategic focus of the first Governors’ meeting held in Rome last year. “The Bank’s ‘High 5’ priorities are at the very heart of Africa’s development programme,” she reiterated.

The Governors unanimously gave the African Development Bank their support. “We have a Bank that innovates. We need significant resources to take Africa and our region forward,” said the Bank Governor for Cameroun, Alamine Ousmane Mey. Bank Governor for Equatorial Guinea, Lucas Abaga Nchama stressed the continent’s enormous development needs, saying that “the [Bank’s] capital increase is important. Our future lies in regional integration”. The Bank Governor for Chad, Issa Doubragne [MOU1] added, “We have every reason to be hopeful.” Concluding, President Adesina said: «We will continue to work hard for the Africa you want. »

Access Bank Issues N15bn 5-Year Green Bond at 15%

Business Journal

25/02/2019

Herbert Wigwe Group MD/CEO Access Bank Plc — Herbert Wigwe, Group MD/CEO, Access Bank Plc

Access Bank Plc is issuing a 5-year Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Green Bond Issuance of up to N15.0billion which is the first ever Climate Bonds Standard Certified Corporate Green Bond issued in Africa.
According to Afrinvest Research, the net proceeds from the Issue will be applied towards financing/ re-financing identified eligible green assets and projects, duly verified and certified by Climate Bonds initiative (CBi), in line with the global Climate Bonds Standard.

Issuer	Access Bank Plc
Issue Size	Up to ₦15.0bn
Bond Description	5 Year [•] % Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Green Bonds due 2024
Status of the Notes	Fixed Rate Unsecured Green Bonds
Pricing Guidance	14.90% to 15.10% per annum
Tenor	Five (5) Years
Issuer Rating	‘Aa-’, Agusto & Co Limited
Bond Rating	‘Aa-’, Agusto & Co. Limited
	’B2’, Moody’s
Book Build Opens	Thursday, February 21, 2019
Book Build Closes	Thursday, February 28, 2019
Allocation	Thursday, February 28, 2019
Funding of Commitment	Friday, March 01, 2019
Subscription	Minimum of ₦5,000,000 (i.e. 5,000 units at ₦1,000/unit) and multiples of ₦1,000,000 thereafter
Use of Proceeds	Water – Flood Defense – 84.80%
	Solar – Generation facilities – 11.73%
	Agriculture – 1.27%
	Offer cost – 2.19%
Listing	FMDQ OTC Plc and/or The Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE)

Post-Election Trading Begins on a Positive Note… ASI up 57bps

Business Journal

25/02/2019

As investors await the results of the 2019 presidential elections, the domestic bourse experienced mild bargain hunting in bellwethers –NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.0%), ZENITH (+1.0%) and DANGCEM (+0.1%).

This drove the All Share Index (ASI) 57bps higher to 32,700.12 points, YTD gain inched to 4.0% while market capitalisation improved slightly by N68.8bn to settle at N12.2tn. Activity level was however mixed as volume traded decreased 0.4% to 219.7m units while value traded increased 147.7% to N5.5bn.

NIGERIAN BREWERIES (42.7m units), DIAMOND (30.8m units) and ACCESS (20.7m units) led the top trades by volume while by value NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N3.6bn), GUARANTY (N733.9m) and ZENITH (N337.0m) led.

Bullish Sector Performance
Across sectors, performance was bullish as all indices under our coverage trended northward. The Consumer Goods index led gainers, up 1.3% on the back of buying interests in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.0%) and DANGFLOUR (+10.0%).

The Insurance and Banking indices trailed appreciating 1.1% and 0.8% due to gains in NEM (+3.4%), SOVRENINS (+8.7%), ZENITH (+1.0%) and UBA (+2.5%). In the same vein, the Oil & Gas index advanced 0.1% as MOBIL (+1.1%) and OANDO (+1.5%) closed in the green.

Lastly, the Industrial Goods index closed flat with a bullish bias as investors took advantage of bargain opportunities in DANGCEM (+0.1%) towards the end of yesterday’s session.

Investor Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by the market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 3.1x from 1.2x recorded the prior Friday as 25 stocks advanced against 8 decliners.

The top performers today were DANGFLOUR (+10.0%), ABCTRANS (+9.6%) and VERITASKAP (+9.5%) while UNIONDAC (-6.5%), TOTAL (-2.6%) and CUTIX (-1.6%) led laggards.

We observed cautious trading in yesterday’s trading session as investors await the results of the 2019 presidential elections. We expect market direction this week to be largely determined by the outcome of the election.

Ecobank Empowers Businesses with Omni Lite Solution

Business Journal

25/02/2019

The Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan, has reaffirmed that the bank’s recently upgraded online banking platform for businesses, Omni Lite, is versatile, secure and user friendly.

He urged business owners to take advantage of the services available on the platform which has been specifically optimised for them. Those in the commercial sector such as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), faith-based organisations, educational institutions, Non-governmental Organisations and government institutions etc can manage their transactions effectively and access an array of tailor-made solutions designed to empower their businesses.

According to Akinwuntan, Omni Lite is primarily designed with business owners in mind. It comes with features to enhance businesses such as efficient and seamless cash flow management, easy view of all accounts and expenses in one place, convenient salary payment with bulk payments upload, management of loan payments, exchange rates calculation and other interesting features.

Further, Akinwuntan noted that with Omni Lite, customers have access to real-time transaction details, domestic and interbank funds transfers and online loan requests. The platform comes with best in its class security tools to ensure that users are protected.

He enjoined business owners to register for Ecobank Omni Lite and discover how the platform can help grow and manage their businesses.

Maersk Accelerates Transformation, Earns $39bn in 2018

Business Journal

25/02/2019

Progress on the transformation of A. P. Moller – Maersk continued in 2018. Customers benefitted from integrated offerings, digital solutions and robust network improvements. Since 2016, the top-line has grown by 43%, to $39bn in 2018, an additional $12bn in turnover.

“In 2018, we made significant progress in implementing our strategy. With the expected demerger and listing of Maersk Drilling in April, the separation of our Energy-related businesses will be almost complete. We have successfully integrated Hamburg Süd, accelerated our digital transformation and come together across sales, customer service, delivery and products as one company with customers at the centre of our attention. We are starting to see growth both in Ocean and non-Ocean segments,” said Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk.

Profitability was in line with the latest guidance for 2018, with earnings before interests, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of USD 3.8 billion, up 8% over 2017. The improvement in operating earnings was driven by higher freight rates, efficiencies gained from the integration of continuing operations, and synergies from the acquisition of Hamburg Süd.

However, margins in continuing operations were challenged and EBITDA was lower than initially expected at the beginning of the year, primarily due to an increase in bunker fuel prices not fully recovered by higher freight rates.

“Although we had a challenging start to 2018, looking at our financial performance, we increased earnings despite significantly higher bunker fuel prices and lower than expected container volume growth in the second half of 2018. However, profitability needs to improve,” said Søren Skou. During 2018, net interest-bearing debt was significantly reduced from USD 14.8 billion to USD 8.7 billion and the company remains investment grade rated.

Following the listing of Maersk Drilling through a demerger and subject to maintaining investment grade rating, details on future dividend policy, capital structure and the distribution of a significant part of the proceeds from the sale of Maersk Oil will be announced no later than August 2019.

Court Again Restrains NAICOM on New Businesses by Guinea Insurance

Business Journal

20/02/2019

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had on Monday, February 18, 2019 further upheld an earlier granted order restraining the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) from suspending Guinea Insurance Plc from underwriting new insurance businesses in a suit that was filed by Guinea Insurance with suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/151/2019 against NAICOM on February 6, 2019.

At the resumed hearing on Monday, Ebere Okonkwo, counsel to Guinea Insurance PLC, informed the court that the Commission did not appear in Court despite being served the Motion on Notice and a copy of the Court’s Order dated February 8, 2019 restraining the Commission from taking any step whatsoever against Guinea Insurance concerning the “compliance with directives contained in the letter dated January 28, 2019“ pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.”

The Court ordered parties to maintain status quo ante and consequently adjourned the suit to February 26, 2019 for further hearing of the Motion on Notice.

National Association of Microfinance Banks at NSE

Business Journal

20/02/2019

L – R shows Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) presenting a replica of closing gong to Mr. Rogers A.I. Nwoke, National President, National Association of Microfinance Bank (NAMB) during a Closing Gong Ceremony to address the grey areas or limitations that Microfinance Banks have in listing on The Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday.

Equity Market Extends Gains to 2nd Consecutive Session… ASI up 64bps

Business Journal

20/02/2019

Yesterday’s trading session saw the domestic market extend its positive performance up 0.6% to 32,614.06 points due to gains in bellwether stocks – NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), ZENITH (+1.8%) and GUARANTY (+0.8%).

Consequently, market capitalisation increased by N77.5bn to settle at N12.2tn while YTD gain stood at 3.8%. Activity level also strengthened as volume and value traded advanced 22.4% and 35.6% to 442.8m units and N5.6bn respectively.

The top traded stocks by volume were STERLING (105.8m units), GUARANTY (37.4m units) and UBA (33.0m units) while GUARANTY (N1.4bn), NESTLE (N1.2bn) and ZENITH (N434.0m) led the top traded by value.

Bullish Sector Performance
Performance across sectors was bullish as 4 of 5 indices under our coverage closed in the green. The Consumer Goods and Insurance indices led gainers up 1.4% and 1.2% respectively following buying interests in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), DANGFLOUR (+5.3%), PRESTIGE(+8.0%) and LAWUNION (+7.8%).

The Oil & Gas index and Banking indices trailed, up 1.0% and 0.8% respectively on the back of gains in MOBIL (+1.1%), ETERNA (+5.5%), ZENITH (+1.8%) and GUARANTY (+0.8%). On the flip side, sell pressures in DANGCEM (-0.1%) led to a 2bps decline in the Industrial Goods index.

Investors Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 1.6x from 1.1x recorded in the previous trading session as 26 stocks advanced against 16 decliners.

The best performing stocks were NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+10.0%), CAVERTON (+9.3%) and JAIZBANK (+8.9%) while GOLDINSURE (-9.4%), CUSTODIAN (-6.9%) and AFRIPRUD (-4.6%) led laggards. Following two consecutive sessions of positive performance, we do not rule out the possibility of profit taking in subsequent sessions.

Société Générale Bank in Partnership with Rugby Africa

Business Journal

20/02/2019

Société Générale and Rugby Africa have agreed to join forces for the next two years to support the development of rugby in Africa, with a particular emphasis on rugby competitions for women and young athletes.
This new partnership is an additional milestone in Société Générale’s on-going commitment to supporting the development and openness of rugby in France and internationally, especially in Africa.
Rugby Africa is one of the six regional associations of World Rugby, the international body that oversees the organisation of the Rugby World Cup.
The partnership will focus specifically on:

World Rugby’s Get into Rugbyprogram, which aims to encourage everyone around the world to take up rugby
The two official competitions for women’s rugby, the Africa Women’s Sevens, and under-20s rugby with the U20 Barthès Trophy

“This partnership is the continuation of two of our long-term commitments: to rugby, of which we have been a reliable partner for over 30 years, and to Africa, with our Grow with Africa initiative, a program central to our priorities that aims to promote the sustainable development of the continent. African rugby is booming, and we intend, in association with Rugby Africa, to implement important rugby development projects as a force for social cohesion,” Caroline Guillaumin, Director of Human Resources and Communication for the Group, explained.
“This partnership uniting us with Société Générale will instill more vigour in the development of African rugby, especially with young people and women. Currently, around half a million children and teenagers are introduced to rugby every year in Africa. And the number of registered female players has more than tripled in recent years in Africa. This partnership is a decisive step forward for Rugby Africa as it brings the necessary investment to support this rapid growth. We thank Société Générale for the confidence they have placed in Rugby Africa and its federations,” commented Abdelaziz Bougja, President of Rugby Africa.
Société Générale and rugby, a commitment at the international scale.
Société Générale is a long-standing partner of rugby, a sport with which the Bank shares the common values of team spirit, commitment and respect.

The Bank supports the development of all forms of rugby, from the amateur level to the highest professional level:

In France: it is partner to more than 450 amateur clubs in France, the Top 14, PROD2, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) as well as the French national rugby team.

Internationally, it is a major partner and the official bank of the Rugby World Cup for the sixth time, a partner of Rugby India (Indian Rugby Federation) and title sponsor of the rugby sevens national teams in all categories (men, women and junior) since 2017, backer of the association Terres en Mêlées and partner of the Algerian Rugby Federation.

Kaspersky Lab Reports 4% Revenue Growth to $726m in 2018

Business Journal

20/02/2019

Kaspersky Lab continued to deliver stable growth in 2018 and increased its global unaudited IFRS revenue to a total of $726 million^*, representing a 4% YOY revenue increase.

During a year of evolving market conditions and continuous geopolitical pressure, the company achieved success as a result of the trust customers and partners place in the company and its leading cyber-security solutions and services.
Among the strategic business areas that drove Kaspersky Lab’s growth in 2018 were Digital and Enterprise. The company saw an increase in digital sales (+4%^**) and strong growth of 16%^**in the enterprise segment, with 55%^**growth in non-endpoint products and services in particular.

Overall, the company secured healthy results in these business areas by delivering some of the best products and services in the industry, as well as new solutions and technologies that prevent, detect and respond to the most sophisticated cyber threats.
Commenting on the year’s results, Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab, said: “2018 was a crucial year for us. After all the challenges and unsubstantiated allegations we faced in 2017, we had a responsibility to show that the company and our people deserve the trust of our partners and customers, and in turn, to continue to clearly demonstrate and prove our leadership. Our continued positive financial results are proof of this, demonstrating that users prefer the best products and services on the market and support our principle of protecting against any cyber threats regardless of their origin.”
Globally, the company’s performance was driven by robust results, especially in META (+27%^**), as well as in other regions, such as Russia, Central Asia and CIS^***(+6%^**), APAC (+6%^**) and Europe (+6%^**), while there was a slowdown in Latin America (-11%^**) mainly caused by currency devaluation in the region.
The challenging geopolitical situation resulted in an overall slowdown in the North American market, where sales decreased by 25%^**.Despite these challenges, Kaspersky Lab maintained and developed its presence in the market, with an 8% increase in new licenses sales in digital.
In 2018, Kaspersky Lab advanced the progress of its Global Transparency Initiative by undertaking a number of significant actions. Notably, the company began the relocation of its IT infrastructure to Switzerland and opened the first Transparency Center in Zurich.

Kaspersky Lab also implemented an audit by one of the Big Four professional services firms of the company’s engineering practices around the creation and distribution of threat detection rule databases.

Today’s ultra-connected global landscape requires increased transparency from organisations, and this unique initiative demonstrates Kaspersky Lab’s clear commitment to assuring the integrity and trustworthiness of its solutions in the service of the customers.

Leadway Assurance: ‘Nigerians Should Buy Term Life Assurance Policy’

Business Journal

18/02/2019

Ms. Adetola Adegbayi, Executive Director, Leadway Assurance Company Limited has urged Nigerians to subscribe to Term Life Assurance product, saying, ‘people should form the habit of buying what they cannot save, through term assurance policy.’

Speaking at the Leadway Assurance Media Training for Insurance and Pension journalists in Lagos, Adegbayi stressed that with little premium, people can buy this unique product that has a minimum Sum Assured of N1 million, urging the middle and low income earners to see this package as an opportunity to enrich their lives.

Using Leadway Term Assurance product as an example, she said the plan is a simple but flexible life assurance product that pays out a lump sum if death occurs during the period of cover.

‘You choose the amount of that lump sum and the length of cover and your premium is calculated accordingly’, she said.

For an additional sum, she said, intending subscriber can extend cover to apply to critical illnesses or becomes permanently disabled because of an accident anywhere in the world.

“You can choose to pay your premiums in a way that suits you best: you can pay a single one-off premium, or you can pay monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually. The premium you pay qualify for tax relief and can therefore reduce your tax bill,” she noted.

He stated that a policyholder has the right to cancel his or her policy and receive a full refund of premiums paid if done within 30 days of receipt of the full policy documentation.

She added: “Take a little money to buy a N10million to N15 million policy. If anything should happen, your family has about N10 million to fall back to. It takes care of school fees of your children and other financial needs. May be, you can buy N10 million with N50, 000 premium for example.”

N411m Fraud: Ecobank Turns in Ex-Manager for Prosecution

Business Journal

14/02/2019

A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ordered the remand of Ifeanyi Chukwu Azike, a former manager of Ecobank Nigeria, over allegations of defrauding the bank’s customers to the tune of N411million.

Azike, who was handed over to the police by the investigative unit of the bank was arraigned before Justice Ayotunde Faji on Tuesday, by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police Force on a three-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretences, false representation and fraud. The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge upon his arraignment.

Following his plea of not guilty, police prosecutor, ASP Daniel Apochi urged the court to remand him in prison pending trial. Consequently, Justice Faji ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison till 8th of March, 2019 when his bail application would be heard.

In a charge marked, FHC/L/56c/2019, the police alleged that between 2016 and 2017, Azike fraudulently obtained N150 million from a customer of Ecobank Nigeria under false pretence of buying him Federal Government Treasury Bill in his bank.

Azike was also alleged to have forged the bank customer’s signature, picture and letter of Instruction which he used in opening another parallel account as Ikenna Okafor Kelvin with account number: 5333063028.

The police also alleged that the bank manager without the consent of the bank fraudulently converted the sum of N411 million belonging to the bank to his personal use.

The offences were said to be contrary to Sections 1 (1) (a), 15(1)(2) and 15(2) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud related Offence Act No. 14 of 2006, and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.

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