The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has taken the sensitisation drive of e-Naira to women during the Law Ladies Day programme at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Yaba Lagos.

The move according to the apex bank, is to further promote the adoption of e-Naira into the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and to sensitise women, students, law students and other Nigerians who gathered for the 2023 Law Ladies Day programme.

In line with the Law Ladies Day programme themed: ‘Defying Stereotypes: Celebrating the Different Shades of Femininity’, CBN used the occasion to reach out to students and others within the university campus to sensitise them on the benefits and importance of e-Naira transactions and why they should use the channel.

Mary Fasheitan, the Special Adviser Payment Systems to the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, who took women through the importance of e-Naira, advantages and opportunities the digital currency offers to the financial community and women, stated that it was high time women embraced e-Naira  for transactions.

According to her, e-Naira offers financial freedom and women inclusivity where other financial instruments do not provide and offers fast transaction time, cross board payment option and gives women financial inclusion.

She said: “e-Naira provides a unique form of money denominated in Naira. e-Naira serves as both a medium of exchange and a store of value, offering better payment prospects in retail transactions when compared to cash payments. It has an exclusive operational structure that is both remarkable and nothing like other forms of central bank money.”

She observed that the whole world was going digital, hence the CBN was responding appropriately to the innovation by introducing a lot of cashless policies, of which e-Naira is one, noting that the apex bank is the first to introduce e-Naira in Africa and only the second in the world.

Fasheitan encouraged female law students to embrace e-Naira and transact with it because it is safe, secure and fully digitalised. “You have nothing to be afraid of because it is one of the most secured channels from the apex bank for transactions,” she assured.

Also speaking at the event, the Managing Partner of Hilton Top Solicitors, Deborah Enyone Oni, said e-Naira remained a great innovation of CBN that should be lauded.

According to her, “e-Naira offers various advantages and opportunities to its users. Its block chain technology feature also enables users to make cross border transactions easily.”

She reiterated that the e-Naira will foster women financial and economic empowerment. Enyone Oni added: “We have partnered with the CBN on the e-Naira and one of our main focuses is to leverage the opportunity to empower women by sensitising them on the advantages of the e-Naira in light of digitalisation.”

Shareholders of leading financial institution, Fidelity Bank Plc, have commended the board and management of the bank for delivering an exceptional performance in FY 2022.

This was made known at the bank’s 35th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held virtually on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

Speaking at the AGM, the Chairman Emeritus of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu applauded the bank’s management for “listening to shareholders and declaring an interim dividend”.

On his own part, National Chairman of The Progressive Shareholders Association Mr. Okezie Boniface lauded the bank for coming to customers’ aid during the period of the Naira redesign policy, explaining that the bank’s branches and Automated Teller Machines (ATM) always provided customers with Naira notes. He also commended the bank’s leadership for prioritizing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives across its focus areas of youth empowerment, health and social welfare, education and environmental conservation and sustainability.

According to the bank’s 2022 annual report uploaded on its website and distributed to shareholders, the bank grew by double digits along all the major indicators. Customer deposits increased by 27.4% from N2.0 trillion in 2021FY to N2.6 trillion. Net Loans and Advances rose by 27.6% from N1.7 trillion in 2021FY to N2.1 trillion in 2022 FY. Total Assets grew by 21.6% from N3.3 trillion in 2021 FY to N4.0 trillion in the period under review.

Giving his remarks at the meeting, Mr. Mustafa Chike-Obi, Chairman, Board of Directors, Fidelity Bank Plc said, “When we set the audacious target of attaining Tier 1 status a few years ago, we did not expect a smooth ride due to the endemic challenges in our operating environment.

However, we were able to weather the storm because our business is built on a foundation of good corporate governance, effective risk management and shareholders’ value enhancement.

In response to a shareholder’s question on the deployment of capital raised during the recent private placement exercise, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe said, “The bank is growing in leaps and bounds and the capital would enhance our capacity to accommodate the business volumes coming our way.

This is in addition to improving our technology especially in the light of the Cashless drive and creating more secured platforms that can handle the challenges posed by cybercrime.

Several resolutions were considered at the AGM including the declaration of a final dividend of 40kobo, re-election of non-executive directors -Mrs. Amaka Onwughalu and Chief Nelson Nweke, election of an Executive Director -Mrs Pamela Shodipo; amongst others.

Fidelity Bank is a full-fledged customer commercial bank operating in Nigeria with over 8million customers serviced across its 250 business offices and digital banking channels.

The bank was recognized as the Best Payment Solution Provider Nigeria 2023 and Best SME Bank Nigeria 2022 by the Global Banking and Finance Awards.

The bank has also won awards for the “Fastest Growing Bank” and “MSME & Entrepreneurship Financing Bank of the Year” at the 2021 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.

Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has assured depositors of Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) whose licenses were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday of prompt payment of their insured sums.

Mr. Bello Hassan, managing director, NDIC, in a statement, said, as deposit insurer, the NDIC would begin the process of payment of the insured sums immediately with the verification of eligible depositors at the respective premises of the closed banks.

He enjoined such depositors to get the required documents for the exercise such as proof of account ownership, verifiable means of identification and alternate bank account to facilitate their seamless verification and payment of their insured deposits.

The NDIC Boss stated, “the insured deposit  is the first claim that the Corporation pays to depositors upon revocation of bank’s license by the CBN,” adding, “the maximum specified limits for the MFB and PMB sub-sectors are N200,000.00 and N500,000.00 per depositor per bank, respectively.”

As liquidator, the MD disclosed that the Corporation has also put machinery in motion to commence sales of assets of the defunct banks as well as recover debts owed to them in order to declare liquidation dividends on pro rata basis to the affected depositors with claims exceeding the maximum insured sums of N200,000.00 for MFBs and N500,000.00 for PMBs.

He assured that regulatory authorities would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the soundness of the banking system was not compromised, stressing that there was no need for the public to panic over the safety of their bank deposits.