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PenCom, PFAs Identify Challenges to Micro Pension Implementation in Nigeria

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Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) have highlighted the challenges they have faced in their efforts to smoothly push the federal government’s Micro Pension plan initiative to the targeted market.

However, they said in the mist of the challenges, increased public awareness and review of the guidelines among others is the way to go.

Speaking at the recent Micro Pension Open Day organised by the umbrella body of pension fund administrators, the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) in Lagos, they said the challenges were of two folds from the informal sector workers and PFAs.

From the informal sector workers they highlighted the challenges as lack of awareness, mistrust about the pension system, absence of appropriate incentives such as collateral for Micro finance and lack of financial literacy.

From the PFAs, they pointed out the challenges as short term perspectives base of the Micro pension plan and perceived associated costs, inadequate awareness campaigns, slow adoption of shared services arrangements by pension fund operators, poor service delivery, weak economic indices occasioned by inflation as well as increased poverty levels.

The Head, Micro Pensions Department National Pension Commission, Dauda Ahmed, who highlighted the challenges, said they have impacted negatively on the implementation efforts of both the pension fund administrators and PenCom.

He listed efforts made so far to push the Micro pension scheme to the targeted market as collaborations and stakeholders’ engagements through engineering leaderships of associations, unions cooperatives, civil society organisation and the media.

He also said the commission made further effort in renewing awareness campaign drive by in print, electronic and social media platforms among other efforts.

He said with these efforts, a total of 97,591 contributors have so far registered into the Micro pension scheme as at May 31, 2023 while a total of N435,607,515,14 has been contributed.

He said out of this, contingent withdrawals stood at N30,243,070.69 by 150 Micro pension contributors while a total of 587 contributors have converted from Micro pension to formal Contributory Pension Scheme.

On the way forward to achieve the set objectives of the Micro pension scheme Ahmed said there was need for increased enlightenment and public awareness campaign by the regulator and PFAs, review of the   MPP Guidelines, further drive of the development of incentives, development of industry shared services platform, enhanced service delivery among others.

Presenting a paper titled, “Current Financial Inclusion Landscape,” Research Associate at EFlnA, Chioma Nwaiwu said Nigeria had plan to have 95 per cent of its population financially included in 2024.

She noted that there had been improvement in number of people using formal financial services adding that it had increased from 48.4 million to 50.5 percent of adults or 53.6 million adults.

She also noted that nearly one in two Nigerian adults do not use any formal or regulated financial services while more than one in three Nigerian adults remained completely financially excluded.

She said 65 percent of Nigerian adults are financially included.

“While overall financial inclusion continues to grow incrementally, progress has been too slow to meet national financial inclusion strategy targets” she noted.

She also observed that there was need for increased uptake and usage of pensions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals’ targets, which were poverty reduction, good health and well-being, decent work and economic growth and reduced inequalities.

According to her, pension reduces the risk of poverty among retirees, out of job persons as well as informally employed persons and provides financial resources for healthcare during retirement

She also said pension incentivise savings and support economic stability, observing that Pension reduces inequality by extending social protection benefits to marginalised and underserved population.

She noted that there was a critical mass to scale up Micro pension in the informal sector of Nigerian economy pointing out that 49.8 million Nigerians were in the informal sector.

She noted that most informal sector workers plan to rely on their savings, children or businesses in retirement.


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E-Financial

Nigeria Worst Hit by Crypto Currency Fraud

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Fraud in the crypto industry in African continent has soared by 48 percent over the past year and Nigeria is worst hit according to report by CAJ News.

Nigeria Worst Hit by Crypto Currency Fraud

This is according to the Sumsub State of the Crypto Industry 2025 report, which indicates Nigeria recorded the highest rate of fraud across the sector, at 8,3 percent.

Thus, this percentage of verification attempts were flagged as fraudulent.

Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania all have fraud rates of 4,8 percent, with Cameroon (4,5 percent), Ethiopia (3,7 percent), Ghana (3,5 percent), Algeria (2,6 percent), Benin (2,6 percent) and Morocco (2,1 percent) recording significant rates.

The most popular fraud types are document forgery (affecting 31 percent of surveyed companies), phishing (20 percent) and money mulling (15 percent), followed by account takeover (14 percent) and forced verification (12percent).

Simsub, the cyber crime expert, believes this surge highlights the need for companies to adopt artificial intelligence (AI)-powered detection, biometrics and continuous monitoring to enhance security.

 

The report states that innovations like biometric checks, AI-backed automation and document-free verification have boosted crypto platform users’ on-boarding success rates to 93,39 percent and reduced verification time by 46 percent, overall improving customer on-boarding while reducing drop-off cases.

Hannes Bezuidenhout, Vice President of Business Development (Africa) at Sumsub, said Africa’s growing adoption of crypto provided its own challenges, but the company foresaw increasing demand and growing user expectations across the continent.

“So it’s crucial for VASPs operating in the region to implement secure verification systems and stay vigilant to fraud, while keeping an eye on evolving and new regulations concerning the crypto sector to avoid fines.”

VASP is an acronym for virtual asset service provider.

 

 


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Banking Consolidation Less Likely as Nigerian Banks Meet Capital Requirements – Fitch

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Fitch Ratings has said that Nigerian banks are making significant progress in raising core capital to meet new paid-in capital requirements. The rating agency noted that the banks are generally on track to meet the end-of-first quarter (Q1) 2026 deadline.

This is supporting a recovery in capitalisation from the impact of naira devaluation, providing fuel for business growth. It also reduces the likelihood of significant banking sector consolidation.

In March 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced a significant increase in paid-in capital requirements (share capital plus share premium) for commercial, merchant and non-interest banks.

Banks have three ways to comply – through equity injections, M&A and downgrading their licence authorisation.

Fitch-rated banks have made notable progress towards compliance. Almost all have raised capital or formally launched the process to do so.

The two largest banks, Access Holdings and Zenith Bank, are the first to secure enough fresh capital to meet the N500 billion requirement for an international licence. First HoldCo, United Bank for Africa and Guaranty Trust Holding Company are taking a phased approach.

They have recently raised capital and have shareholder approval to begin raising more to meet the N500 billion requirement. First HoldCo’s and United Bank for Africa’s recent rights issues are awaiting final regulatory approval.

Fidelity Bank and FCMB Group have completed initial capital raisings but will need to raise more to maintain their international licences. As second-tier banks, they must raise significantly more capital relative to their balance sheets than larger banks.

They have extraordinary general meeting approval for this, although they could consider downgrading to a national licence as they each have just one foreign subsidiary.

Ecobank Nigeria Limited (ENG) and Jaiz Bank needed only small capital injections to meet their requirements and have already achieved compliance. We estimate that ENG is still in breach of its total capital adequacy ratio (CAR) requirement of 10 percent but it has further capital-raising plans to restore compliance. Stanbic IBTC Holdings has launched a rights issue to raise capital to maintain its national licence.

Strong investor appetite has ensured that the vast majority of capital raisings so far have been successful, and most first- and second-tier banks should be able to meet their new capital requirements through capital raisings alone. Therefore, we believe the likelihood of banking sector consolidation among first- and second-tier banks has decreased.

Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN), which is also in breach of its 10 percent CAR requirement, and third-tier banks have generally been slower to raise capital. Wema Bank has shareholder approval to raise enough capital to retain its national licence and plans to launch the process in April.

Coronation Merchant Bank recently received board approval. It is not clear whether UBN and unrated third-tier banks have received the necessary approvals. M&A activity and licence downgrades remain more likely among third-tier banks.

The capital raisings are contributing to a recovery in capitalisation from the impact of naira devaluation, which put pressure on capital ratios and increased US dollar credit concentration risks. Strengthened buffers over minimum CAR requirements will mitigate risks from a challenging operating environment, including regulatory intervention and further naira volatility, while providing room for business growth.

The capital raisings are unlikely to lead to banks with Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of ‘B-’ being upgraded given the constraint of Nigeria’s ‘B-’/Positive Long-Term IDR.

However, they could contribute to Outlook revisions to Positive for some banks, and, providing CAR compliance is restored, to upgrades for UBN and ENG (both rated ‘CCC’). Capital raisings are more likely to affect National Long-Term Ratings, which measure the relative creditworthiness of Nigerian issuers.

 


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GTB Announces Zero Processing Fees on POS Transactions

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Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd has announced the removal of processing fees on all GTBank POS terminals, reinforcing its commitment to supporting businesses with cost-effective payment solutions.

This initiative, which took effect Tuesday, 11 February 2025, communicates that merchants using GTBank POS terminals will no longer incur Merchant Service Charges (MSC) when receiving payments from customers.

With this initiative, all qualifying SME Merchants can now receive payments at zero cost, allowing them to reduce operational expenses, whilst promoting the merchant’s enterprise, and enhancing customer experience.

Speaking on the initiative, Miriam Olusanya, Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria, said: “At Guaranty Trust Bank, we are always looking for ways to add value to our financial ecosystem.

“By implementing the zero processing fees on POS transactions, we are empowering businesses to get the full value of every payment they receive, whilst also ensuring a more seamless and efficient payment experience.”

The Zero Processing Charge campaign aligns with GTBank’s ongoing efforts to empower businesses with innovative financial solutions that drive growth and efficiency.


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