E-Financial
LAPO MFB’s Confirmation as one of Nigeria’s Top Employers
LAPO Microfinance Bank (MFB), the country’s largest microfinance bank is an ubiquitous presence across the country especially consistently accounting for over 20 percent of the MFB sector while serving over five million customers through over 535 locations nationwide.
The value of the institution not only to the small business sector but also to the overall economy was further confirmed recently when it emerged as one of Nigeria’s highest employers in a report by Statisense, a data consulting firm with expertise in analytics and research.
The research study focused on the country’s top 15 largest employers. The ranking depicts LAPO MFB as a hugely impactful organization that is also contributing immensely to job creation.
In the Statisence analysis, LAPO MFB came in at number five with 7,320 employees, ahead of cement giant, Dangote Cement PLC (seventh with 6,176 employees), as well as popular commercial banks like Access Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank and some companies from the country’s labor-intensive private security industry.
LAPO, Nigeria’s first publicly traded MFB was in good company with other strong corporate brands in the top five. The first to fourth positions were taken by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Chinese construction firm CCECC, Zenith Bank Plc and Halogen Security Ltd.
Furthermore, LAPO was the only microfinance bank on the list, which reflects its clear lead within the sector as well as the growing impact of the SME sector in job creation.
The research study is significant because unemployment in Nigeria has been a perennial challenge that has now compounded by the effects of the widely disruptive Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s unemployment rate rose to 33 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, the second highest in the world. It means that one third of Nigeria’s 69.7 million-strong labor force did nothing or worked for under 20 hours a week. The unemployment rate for women was 35.2 compared with 31.8 for men.
It is also significant that LAPO prides itself as a female-centric bank with numerous services tailored to women and 58 percent of its staff being women as well. Women make up roughly half of the country’s working population outside their disproportionate role at the domestic level. LAPO’s gender policies which are in line with international development goals are also reflected in its board which is 50 percent female and its appointment of a female Managing Director, Cynthia Ikponmwosa.
Speaking on the organization’s gender-friendly focus, Ikponmwosa says: “It’s just natural that as a pro women institution, our staff would consist of more women than men,” says Ikponmwosa. “We try as much as possible to create a balance and although we have many women-friendly policies, we also incorporate policies that support men. For example, the board approved a policy on paternity leave of five working days for males.”
She adds: “We have great staff who are committed to the vision and mission of this bank. We can’t emphasize that enough because we have seen that demonstrated in the littlest of things in the bank and I think to a very large extent that has been the main oiler of the wheel of this bank.”
LAPO’s impact on employment goes far beyond its workforce. Not only is it a large and socially conscious employer, it also provides sustainable finance to millions of medium and small-scale businesses (MSMEs) which has a significant multiplier effect on job creation in the country. In Nigeria, SMEs account for 96 percent of businesses and 84 percent of employment according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
LAPO helps to address a major challenge encountered by such businesses: limited access to funds due to the category of funding they qualify for. The bank also organizes training and other capacity building initiatives for MSMEs as part of its offerings.
A good number of its tailor-made financial products and services are tailored to agriculture which is the dominant sector for many households in Nigeria, particularly in rural areas where it employs almost 84% of households and accounts for 56 percent of rural net income.
As a result of its keen support for farmers, in March, 2021, LAPO was awarded ‘The Most Supportive Bank’ national category in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Agricultural Credit Scheme Funds (ACGSF). The institution was also commended by the CBN for financing and producing the best farmer in 2020 under the ACGSF.
Considering the high rate of unemployment which is projected to rise as population growth continues to outpace output expansion, LAPO’s role as a major contributor to job creation is commendable and worth emulating.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched a new digital platform to track every foreign exchange transaction involving Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators, marking a major step in its efforts to improve transparency and strengthen oversight of the country’s retail forex market.
In an operational guidance issued on July 15 to authorised dealer banks and licensed BDCs, the apex bank introduced the FX BDC Purchase Tracker (FXBT), a centralised electronic portal designed to monitor foreign exchange purchases by BDCs from the point of request through approval, settlement and eventual sale.
The CBN said the portal will require BDCs to upload real-time or same-day data on all FX purchases made through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), giving the regulator transaction-level visibility across the retail FX market.
According to the bank, the platform is designed to prevent abuse by making it easier to detect operators attempting to exceed the weekly purchase limit of $150,000, obtain allocations from multiple banks or divert foreign exchange outside approved channels.
The launch of the tracker builds on the CBN’s February policy that restored direct access for licensed BDCs to purchase foreign exchange from authorised dealer banks through the NFEM. While that policy improved access to official FX, the new platform provides the digital infrastructure to monitor how the funds are used.
Under the new framework, authorised dealer banks must conduct comprehensive Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and customer due diligence checks before selling foreign exchange to any BDC.
The new guideline also says banks must verify beneficial ownership information, retain incorporation documents and carry out enhanced due diligence for higher-risk operators.
Any BDC that fails these checks will not be allowed to access official foreign exchange.
The guidance also requires banks to acknowledge BDC purchase requests submitted through the FXBT portal within two business hours and immediately notify operators whether their requests have been approved or rejected.
To discourage speculation, the CBN directed that any forex purchased through the NFEM but left unused must be sold back into the market within 24 hours after the expiration of the utilisation period.
BDCs are also required to disclose any previously unused balances when submitting fresh requests.
In addition, all foreign exchange transactions between banks, BDCs and customers must be settled through registered accounts with licensed financial institutions.
Third-party transactions are prohibited, and any transfer outside a BDC’s registered settlement account will be treated as a regulatory violation.
The apex bank also said all authorised dealer banks and licensed BDCs are expected to comply with the new regulatory guidance and operational procedures with immediate effect.
President Bola Tinubu has signed the Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, introducing a coordinated framework to regulate Nigeria’s fast-growing virtual assets sector, combat fraud and strengthen oversight without creating a new regulatory agency.
The Executive Order, which took immediate effect, establishes a Virtual Asset Council to harmonise the activities of financial, revenue and capital market regulators while promoting responsible innovation in the digital economy.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the order was signed pursuant to Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution to address growing regulatory gaps as virtual assets increasingly blur the boundaries between currencies, commodities, securities and payment systems.
The Presidency said the fragmented regulatory landscape had exposed Nigeria to risks including money laundering, terrorism financing, cybercrime, data privacy breaches, fraud and significant revenue losses, with fraudulent operators exploiting loopholes to defraud unsuspecting investors.
Under the new framework, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will chair the Virtual Asset Council, while the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will serve as vice-chairmen. Other members include the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The Council will coordinate policy, strengthen collaboration among regulators and work with the Attorney-General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal framework that aligns virtual asset regulation with Nigeria’s economic, security and social priorities.
The Executive Order also establishes a Virtual Asset Office, domiciled at the CBN, to serve as the Council’s operational secretariat. The office will coordinate information sharing, applications and reporting among participating agencies through an integrated supervisory technology platform while allowing each institution to retain control over its data.
The Presidency stressed that the order does not establish a new regulator or transfer statutory powers from existing agencies. Instead, it creates a coordination mechanism under which regulatory responsibilities will depend on the nature of the virtual asset or activity involved.
Under the arrangement, the SEC will continue to regulate virtual assets classified as securities, while the CBN will oversee payment, settlement, custody and other non-security virtual asset services. The Council will resolve jurisdictional disputes where responsibilities overlap.
As part of the reforms, the CBN will launch a regulatory sandbox that will allow eligible firms to test virtual asset products and blockchain-based solutions under close regulatory supervision before they are introduced into the wider market.
Similarly, the Nigeria Revenue Service will issue a dedicated tax policy for the virtual assets sector to clarify tax obligations, improve voluntary compliance and ensure the rapidly expanding industry contributes fairly to government revenue.
The Federal Government is also finalising a comprehensive Virtual Assets White Paper, which will outline Nigeria’s long-term policy direction for the sector.
President Tinubu directed the newly established Council to produce a Harmonised Implementation Framework within 30 days to facilitate the immediate implementation of the Executive Order and strengthen confidence in Nigeria’s digital economy.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has commenced a nationwide enlightenment campaign to help Nigerians recover unclaimed dividends and other monies arising from capital market transactions.
The campaign, which began with a town hall meeting in Lagos on Thursday, is aimed at sensitising investors on the existence of unclaimed monies, the role of the National Investor Protection Fund (NIPF) and the procedures for verifying and recovering legitimate claims.
Emomotimi Agama, director-general of SEC, who was represented at the event by Hafsat Rufai, director, Registration and Exchanges, Market Infrastructure Department, said the initiative was necessary to ensure that funds belonging to investors were returned to their rightful owners.
Agama said unclaimed monies administered by the NIPF included return monies from public offers, scheme consideration from mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring transactions, as well as other funds belonging to investors that had remained unclaimed.
He noted that the Commission considered it unacceptable for investors’ funds to remain unclaimed, adding that many investors and their families were either unaware that such monies existed or did not know the procedures for recovering them.
Agama said the SEC Board had approved a nationwide public enlightenment campaign to sensitise Nigerians on unclaimed monies, the role of the NIPF and the process for making legitimate claims.
He said the Lagos programme marked the commencement of the outreach, which would subsequently cover the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory.
The director-general said the campaign would also address the transmission of securities following the death of an investor, noting that families were often unaware that their deceased relatives owned shares or other capital market investments.
He said even when beneficiaries were aware of such investments, many lacked knowledge of the legal and administrative procedures required to obtain probate or letters of administration and transmit the investments to the rightful beneficiaries.
Agama said the Lagos programme included an expert session on probate administration and the transmission of securities to demystify the process and provide practical guidance to investors and their families.
He urged investors to maintain proper records of their investments and encouraged families to take steps to preserve inherited wealth.
The SEC DG also warned Nigerians against Ponzi schemes and other fraudulent investment arrangements, saying fraudsters continued to exploit economic pressures and digital platforms to lure unsuspecting members of the public with promises of guaranteed and unusually high returns.
He urged the public to be cautious of investment opportunities offering risk-free returns, stressing that investor education and vigilance remained critical to combating financial fraud.
Speaking on behalf of Lawal Pedro, attorney-general and commissioner for Justice,Lagos State, Olujoke Ogunojemite, deputy director in the Ministry of Justice, commended the SEC for extending the campaign to Lagos and recognising the role of legal institutions in resolving issues relating to unclaimed dividends and other assets.
She said the issue had a practical impact on beneficiaries who were unable to access assets after the death of their loved ones.
Ogunojemite said the ministry was committed to ensuring that legal processes did not become barriers to beneficiaries seeking to recover legitimate assets.
She described the SEC’s outreach as commendable, saying it would help restore assets to their rightful beneficiaries.
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