E-Financial
Naira Roars Back to Life in Parallel Market
By Lukman Otunuga, Senior Research Analyst at FXTM,
The Naira has marched into September with a renewed sense of confidence, rallying to its strongest level since April on the black markets as supplies of Dollar surged ahead an auction set by the CBN.
On the parallel markets, the Naira is trading around 435 per Dollar compared to the 465 witnessed on the last day of August.
It looks like local currency is deriving strength from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s announcement in resuming the sales of foreign exchange to operators of the Bureau de Change (BDC) from September 7.
Over the past few months, the CBN has found it challenging to clear the backlog of foreign exchange demand by foreign investors as the havoc wrought by COVID-19 created shockwaves across the economy.
Dollar shortages were further intensified by depressed Oil prices which account for more than 90% of foreign exchange earnings and over 70% of government revenues.
The economic outlook for Nigeria remains clouded by uncertainty due to COVID-19 and shaky Oil prices. GDP is expected to contract anywhere from 3% to 6% in 2020 with most of the damage from the pandemic seen in the first half of the year.
Although a weak recovery is predicted in 2021, this will depend on oil prices and the government’s efforts in implementing critical structural reforms to reducing Nigeria heavy dependence on Oil.
Gold wobbles as Dollar fights back
Gold has woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, struggling to nurse wounds inflicted from Wednesday’s hefty depreciation as king Dollar rebounded from two-year lows.
The precious metal has lost almost 2% since the start of the September and could extend losses in the short term if the Dollar fights for its thrown and “risk-on” remains the name of the game. However, when looking at the key themes influencing Gold, the medium to longer term outlook points north despite the possible weakness in the near term.
Buying sentiment towards Gold could be dented by a sense of confidence over the world economy recovering quicker than expected, while renewed US-China trade hopes and optimism around a coronavirus vaccine may boost attraction towards riskier assets at the expense of safe-havens.
However, rising coronavirus cases in the United States, political uncertainty ahead of November’s presidential elections and Brexit drama among other negative themes may drain investor confidence, ultimately accelerating the flight to safety.
On top of this, low-to-negative government bond yields, unprecedented monetary stimulus and handsome fiscal packages should continue sweetening appetite for the precious metal for the rest of 2020.
Although economic data from major economies have beat estimates, the overall shaky macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape may ensure the Gold remains a hotspot of safety.
Looking at the technical picture, prices remain in a wide range on the daily timeframe with support at $1910 and resistance around $1985. It looks like the precious metal is under pressure with $1910 acting as the first level of interest. A breakdown below this point could encourage a decline towards $1890. Should $1910 prove to be reliable support, prices could rebound back towards $1950, before potentially testing $1985.
E-Financial
MoneyMaster PSB Marks 2024 Global Money Week
MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank Limited (MMPSB), Nigeria’s payment service bank, is joining blue chip companies and other corporate entities across the globe to celebrate the 2024 Global Money Week from March 18 to 24, 2024.
In a press statement issued on the celebration, MMPSB emphasized its commitment to the provision of top-notch banking services to its customers at all times, including payment services through wallets, savings, individual and business accounts, as well as provision of a platform for customers to buy airtime/data, pay bills and subscribe to cable television, amongst others.
MMPSB said its plans for the week include a “Catch them Young” experiential campaign to tutor kids on the need to embrace savings and investment culture. An estimated 5,000 students from across major schools in Nigeria have been programmed to participate in the week-long financial literacy training in the bank’s coordinating centres across 10 states.
Besides this, the MoneyMaster team will also engage teachers and enlighten them on basic knowledge of savings and investment for future purposes.
The bank added, “As part of the week-long celebration, MoneyMaster PSB will also be releasing thought leadership videos on safety and security on how banking customers can protect themselves. These videos will be shared to its customers via direct email and also on its social media handles for the benefit of the general public”.
The week, celebrated annually, creates global awareness-raising campaign on the importance of ensuring that young people, from an early age, are financially aware, and are gradually acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve financial well-being.
“Protect your money, secure your future”, the theme for this year’s celebration, is focused on safe money management, underscoring the importance of adopting a responsible and informed approach to personal finance, by being aware of potential risks in the financial sector and protecting one’s hard-earned money.
E-Financial
Moniepoint Emerges Lead Sponsor of Payments Forum Nigeria – PAFON 1.0
Moniepoint Inc. a global digital financial services provider with operations in Nigeria and an ongoing expansion into other emerging markets, has emerged the lead sponsor of the maiden edition of Payments Forum Nigeria (PAFON 1.0).
Payments Forum Nigeria [PAFON] is an event focused on providing inside-look at the payment industry in the country, offering perspectives from key stakeholders, including payment networks, technology innovators, leading merchants, issuers, acquirers and payment processors.
The Forum is scheduled to take place this Thursday, March 21, 2024 at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki Road, Lagos by 9am-12noon, under the theme: “Payments: Trust, Security and Privacy in AI Era”.
Register here: https://bit.ly/4c4N19H
Moniepoint Inc., founded with the vision to create a society where everyone experiences financial happiness, joins other sponsors of the event: Digital Encode Limited (a leading consulting and integration that specializes in the design, management, and security of business-critical architecture); Cybervergent (a company dedicated to helping protect business sensitive data from cyber-attacks, including customer information, financial records and intellectual property); Payble (a fintech startup that modernises local government payments such as creating citizen-centric payment experiences, delivering flexible billing and simplified rate collection, and Inlaks, an IT company that offers core banking, fraud management, cybersecurity, cloud, data center, enterprise risk management, amongst other industry players.
Moniepoint Inc is the parent company of TeamApt Limited, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) licensed Switch and Processor, and Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, a CBN-licensed Microfinance Bank, and operates the largest distribution network for financial services in Nigeria through its subsidiaries, and has been awarded by the CBN in 2022 as the most inclusive payment platform in the country.
Over 70 million people use their cards on Moniepoint’s POS terminals monthly across every local government in Nigeria.
Led by its Group CEO, Tosin Eniolorunda, Moniepoint Inc.’s technology has powered businesses, offering all the payment, banking, credit and business management tools they need to succeed. It aims to power the dreams of businesses, their employees and customers by providing them with the financial technology tools they need to grow, no matter their digital literacy level.
Moniepoint Inc. currently processes the majority of the POS transactions in Nigeria through its subsidiaries, processing over $182 billion in TPV. It is Africa’s largest Fintech by transaction volume. It is profitable and, in 2022, became QED Investors’ first investment into Africa.
Moniepoint Inc was recently named as the Fintech Company of the Year by the Leadership Newspapers Group.
Speakers:
Meanwhile, speakers lined for PAFON 1.0 are: Chibuzo Efobi, Director, Payments System Management, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Festus Amede, Chairman, Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigerian Financial institutions (CCISONFI); Dr. Adewale Peter Obadare, Chief Visionary Officer (CVO), Digital Encode Limited; Adetokunbo Omotosho, Chief Executive Officer, Cybervergent; Roosevelt Elias, Founder, Payble; Ikenna Ndugbu, Chief Compliance Officer, Moniepoint MFB, and others.
Participation:
Participation is FREE, however, pre-registration is required: https://bit.ly/4c4N19H
E-Financial
BVN Registration Hits 61.16m
Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System has said the registration for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) has now increased to 61.16 million, according to Vanguard report.
NIBSS disclosed this on its website on Saturday, adding that the BVN is 61,166,384 as of Friday, March 15, 2024.
Earlier in the year, the agency had reported that as of January 26, the BVN count stood at 59.9 million.
This indicates that there have been 674,280 new registrations for BVN between late January and mid-March.
The need for Nigerians to register their BVN arose following the demands by banks and telecommunication companies asking people to link their accounts and phone numbers with SIM.
Majority of Nigerians have let out their frustrations at some point when the linking of BVN with accounts were not successful.
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