Category: Finance

There is widespread apprehension in the foreign exchange market following the continued silence of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the number of Bureaux de Change (BDCs) that have met the new requirements announced on June 23rd.
Vanguard investigations however reveal that about 2,385 existing BDCs have so far met the new requirements. Investigation revealed that most banks are not selling foreign exchange to BDCs due to uncertainty about their compliance with the new requirements. BDC sources who spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity confirmed that the banks said they would not sell dollars to BDCs until the CBN announces the list of BDCs that have met the requirement.
This has however aggravated the scarcity of dollars in the market, leading to further depreciation of the naira in the parallel market last week. The parallel market exchange rate on the average rose further to N173.5 per dollar. This implies that the naira has depreciated by N8.5 or 5.1 percent since new requirement was announced on June 23rd.
The new requirements for BDC operations include 250 percent increase in minimum capital base to N35 million, and an increase in the mandatory caution deposit from $10,000 to N35 million. While announcing the new requirement in a press release on June 23rd, The CBN said that the new requirements were to correct observed deficiencies in the operation of Bureaux de Change (BDCs) in Nigeria which have led to gross inefficiencies and sharp practices in the foreign exchange market, has taken steps to check the growing incidence of rent-seeking, depletion of external reserves, financing of unauthorized transactions and dollarization, among others.
“The CBN’s expectation is to have BDCs that are properly structured, effectively regulated, and well-capitalised to meet the objectives for which operators are licensed. In particular, the CBN envisages the following: The emergence of well-capitalised and structured entities that can effectively perform the roles of Bureau De Change in the economy; Partnership between BDCs and renowned companies engaged in inward and outward money transfers in Nigeria.

It is in expectation of this collaboration that the CBN as at 18 June 2014 approved the “Guidelines for International Money Transfer Services in Nigeria”. Under the Guidelines, Western Union, Moneygram and RIA Financial Services have been authorised to carry out inward and outward money transfer services in Nigeria; Creation of robust and sustainable business franchises that are not dependent on rent-seeking activities but are properly situated to compete in the foreign exchange market, and deliver superior values and returns.
“In view of the background and vision provided above, and in order to ensure that only genuine companies operate as BDCs in Nigeria, the CBN makes the following modifications to the “Bureaux De Change Guidelines”:
“The minimum capital requirement for the operation of BDCs in Nigeria is reviewed to N35 million; The mandatory cautionary deposit is reviewed to N35 million and shall be deposited in a non-interest yielding account in the CBN upon the grant of Approval-in- Principle; The following fees shall apply to the licensing of BDCs: Application Fee—N100,000.00; Licensing Fee—N1 million; and Annual Renewal Fee—N250,000.00; and Ownership of multiple BDCs is not permissible, and would be punishable if detected.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has given banks operating in the country up to December 31, 2014 to achieve “Highly Secured Online Funds Transfer” status.
The CBN, in a circular signed by Director, Banking & Payments System Department, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, released yesterday, titled “ The Review of Operations of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) system and other electronic payments options with similar features” stated that the decision was taken to further strengthen the risk aversion measures put in place for the operators of the Nigeria Interbank Banks Settlement System, NIBSS Instant Payment System, and other electronic payments options with similar features.”
Under the Highly Secured Online Fund Transfer, the apex bank stated that Daily Limit for instant Value for Individual is N1 million, while Corporate is N10 million; The Daily Limit for Next Working Day Value for Individual: N10 million and Corporate: N100 million.
According to Fatokun “ Limit of N1 million (Instant value) and N10 million (Next day value) shall be applied for NIP and NIBSS Electronic Fund Transfer, NEFT respectively, and other electronic payments options with similar features, initiated by individuals, with effect from September 1, 2014. There shall be no limit on the amount that can be received into a customer’s bank account from the platform. For same day value (NIP), the maximum amount that can be transferred by an individual (cumulative) is N5 million.”
The guidelines further stated that a customer shall issue a written indemnity to the bank, where they chooses to initiate transactions above the limit specified in the Highly Secured Online Fund Transfer, subject to maximum of N5 million and N100 million for Individual and Corporate customers respectively.
Other conditions in the guidelines is that “ Banks are to establish internal procedures /policies for variants of the N5 million limits; Transactions above the N1 million limit could be delayed by the receiving bank for not more than one hour (as opposed to the current two minutes), before applying credit.”
According to the guidelines “ Transfers above N100 million shall be effected through the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS). Banks are expected to return unapplied funds within 10 minutes, where their fraud/risk management system flag such as suspicious or fraudulent and Banks are also expected to communicate the aforementioned policies clearly to their customers and give adequate notice before implementation.”

Nigeria and the United States have commenced plans to leverage on US President Barack Obama’s $14bn investment pledge in Africa, for an effective financing structure for infrastructure in Nigeria.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, and the US Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker, agreed during a bilateral meeting at the just-concluded US-Africa Summit that increased investment in the area of infrastructure would further improve the Nigerian business environment, noting that Obama’s focus on power was particularly encouraging.
While the two countries agreed to work on the financial structure for infrastructure within the next few weeks, Pritzer noted that US companies were eager to do business in Nigeria due to the ongoing reforms in critical sectors, adding that they could also leverage on the US export assistance facilities scattered around the country.
Aganga, who spoke to journalists in Washington DC, during the Summit, said, apart from the investment commitments and MOUs that were signed during the summit, most investors agreed that Nigeria had the most robust, clear and friendly policies on power, which other African countries should try to emulate.
He said, “This means we already have an enabling environment that will encourage more investors to come and invest in the sector. In fact, what these investors were saying was that most many of our sectoral policies, which we have put in place already have encouraged them to come and invest in Nigeria.

“That was why when we met with the American automotive manufacturing giant, Ford, during the summit, they said that they wanted to come to Nigeria as quickly as possible because of our new automotive policy. If the new auto policy was not in place, Ford would not be talking about coming to invest in Nigeria. That is the value you get as a country when you have a proper industrial plan and well-articulated sectoral policy in place.”
The minister added, “Also, the World Bank made a pledge of $5 billion for risk capital, preparation of projects and to invest in Nigeria overall. Most of these investments will be going to the power sector. This is coming into Nigeria because the country is ready to receive investors.
“On our plans going forward, we are looking forward to the re-formulation and re-modernization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). We are working on a National AGOA strategy in addition to raising the awareness of Nigerians to fully understand the benefits and opportunities that exist therein for them. Also, we will continue to engage with the United States under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in order to build and sustain the present momentum.”
Aganga said that the United States was keen on boosting trade with Africa and Nigeria in particular, noting that the interests cut across all sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“If you look at the people that participated in the summit, they cut across the different strata of the economy. The United States, especially President Obama, is focusing on power. So, overall, I see the major sectors of the Nigerian economy benefiting from Obama’s initiative. In the real sector, for example, we expect more investments coming into the agro-industrial sectors, textile and garment, palm oil, sugar and food processing generally,” he said.
On the Economic Partnership Agreement, the minister insisted that Nigeria had not shifted its position, saying EPA must meet the country’s expectations and must be “in our overall best economic interest as a nation.”
“Nigeria will not, and cannot sign, any agreement that will lead to loss of jobs, income and investments. These are our major priorities and concerns as a country and until EPA addresses these priorities and concerns, we will not sign any agreement with the European Union,” he reiterated.

Three out of the 23 banks in the country reduced staff salaries last year while four others increased the average pay package of its staff. A report compiled by Thaddeus Investment Advisors & Research Ltd.
According to the Investment Company “We recently completed a proprietary analysis that reveals banks that are getting it right in terms of managing their workforce and those that are not.
It said that First Bank decreased its average salary per head in 2013 by 12% and improved its employee value added ranking by 5 spots relative to 2012, moving from 9th place to 4th place. In addition, its employees scored four more points than the 2012 fiscal year when it came to value-added. Its employees also increased their productivity by 3% despite the decrease in average salary.
GT Bank according to Thaddeus Investment, the toast of African fund managers decreased its average salary per head in 2013 by 26% while increasing employee count by 24% and also improved its employee value added ranking by 2 spots moving from 3rd place to 1st place. In addition, its employees scored seven more points than the 2012 fiscal year when it came to value-added. Its employees also increased their productivity by 14% despite the 26% decrease in average salary.
The report said that Sterling Bank, the best dividend yield in the banking industry for 2013, maintained its last position for the second year in a row as the least paying bank in the industry on average. The bank increased salaries on average by 7% little less than average inflation in 2013 and its employees responded as the bank improved its employee value added ranking by 3 spots. In addition its employees scored two more points than the 2012 fiscal year when it came to value-added. Its employees also increased their productivity by 14% despite being the lowest paid in the industry and this was achieved with a 7% increase in average salary. You can imagine what its employees can do with just a little bit more of motivation.
Access Bank on the other hand increased its average employee salary by 34% (despite decreasing employee count by 19% and turning over most of its executive management in the same year its first CEO let go of the reigns at the helm of the bank. Access Bank lowered its employee value added ranking by 5 spots relative to 2012 moving from 5th to 10th place. In addition, its employees scored five less points than the 2012 fiscal year when it came to value-added. Its employees also decreased their productivity by 8% despite the 34% increase in average salary.
Zenith Bank, another toast of Africa fund managers, increased its average salary per head by 29% and also lowered its employee value added ranking by 4 spots relative to 2012 moving from 2nd place to 6th place. In addition, its employees scored five less points than the 2012 fiscal year when it came to value-added. Its employees also decreased their productivity by 10% despite the 29% increase in average salary. The bank’s CEO during the period now runs Nigeria’s Central Bank and its founder is now back at the helm of the board of the bank.
According to Thaddeus Fidelity Bank increased its average salary per head by 12% without reducing employee count which we deem commendable and lowered its employee value added ranking by 1 spot relative to 2012 moving from 10th to 11th place. In addition, its employees scored four less points than the 2012 fiscal year when it came to value-added. Its employees also decreased their productivity by 63% despite the 12% increase in average salary.
Wema Bank increased its average salary per head by 32% and reduced its employee count by 14% simultaneously and lowered its employee value added ranking by 1 spot relative to 2012 moving from 12th to 13th place.
This was the highest spike in average salary per head in the Nigerian Banking industry in 2013 and was overdue depending on whom you talk to. In addition, its employees scored four less points than the 2012 fiscal year when it came to value-added. Its employees did increase their productivity level by a whopping 135% as a result of the 32% increase in average disposable income power. It needs to strive to bring in higher quality people relative to the overall employee head count and we see much better days ahead for the bank. Its employees are working a lot harder as the numbers reveal.
According to the investment firm “The overall rankings for staff-value added not productivity. GT Bank;UBA ; Sterling Bank; First Bank; Skye Bank; Zenith Bank; FCMB; ETI and Diamond. Others are Access Bank; Fidelity Bank; Unity Bank; Wema Bank; Stanbic Bank and Union Bank
According to Thaddeus Investment Advisors Nigeria’s most illiquid bank, trading perspective, Stanbic IBTC’s stock price has risen 37% this year thus far and 94% in 2013 after a share reconstruction in the last quarter of 2012. It has the most expensive employees on average in the Nigerian banking industry though the gap between 1st and 2nd has reduced from 32% to 30%. Access Bank has dethroned Union Bank from the 2nd spot. This is a bank that on many occasions trades less than $50,000 per day and is now Nigeria’s 4th most capitalised bank. Its brokerage arm pretty much has a stronghold on the leader board of trading transaction value on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Its staff still rank 14th out of a possible 15 in terms of staff value-added in the industry. Its employees; total value-added points score did improve from -12 to -7 from 2012 – 2013. Its employees are giving back less than they are receiving from the bank.
The Nigeria arm of ETI, its cash cow though it has not been as generous as anticipated when the merger with Oceanic Bank took place, has continued to be its greatest ASSET and also its greatest LIABILITY. The bank appears to be on course under its new CEO as the Nigerian staff count increased 30.5% (2,194 employees) in 2013 and average wage per head decreased by 7%. Based on the above events, they just might be onto something as long as the new additions are bringing quality and not just enthusiasm.

The Federal Government on Monday approved two of the 17 interested companies to bid for the assets of Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL) and its subsidiary, Mobile Telecommunication Ltd (MTEL).
The Minister of Mines and Steel, Alhaji Musa Sada, said this in Abuja when he briefed newsmen after the meeting of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), which was presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo. Musa said that the approval of the two companies followed the consideration of the evaluation reports for the expression of interests on the guided liquidation of NITEL/MTEL.
“Part of the consideration that we had, we had quite a number of companies about 17 were shortlisted based on a criteria; it is guided. There is a criteria that is used at every point in time and of this evaluation of the 17 (companies), two qualified for request for proposal issuance. This is what the Council deliberated upon today and approved the qualification of the two companies, and the two companies are NATCOM Consortium and Nectar Consortium.
“These are groups of investors in the sector and they came top with 90.7 per cent and 90.2 per cent, respectively. These are the two companies the council today approved for further consideration in this exercise.“ The minister said that government’s efforts at getting NITEL/MTEL back on stream had been strenuous and challenging.
He, however, said that the by the time the ongoing arrangement was fully implemented, NITEL and its subsidiary, MTEL, would attain the height for which it was originally established. You will agree with me that efforts at getting NITEL back on stream has been very strenuous because of so many issues, so many problems; but this time around, there have been strong efforts so that we do not go back to what we had before.
“With what is put in place, we are very confident that we would only move forward to the appropriate destination.
“The idea here is for us to have a working institution not necessarily a situation where these assets are just dispensed with for whatever reasons. From our discussions today, we are making sure that this asset does not go to somebody, who for other considerations, will want to own it and keep it. Our target is to make sure that NITEL/MTEL come back on stream. It has very robust assets and it will be a very good thing for the country.
“Mobile telephones and networks are not substitute for landlines and that is why we are doing everything we can to bring it back to work.“
Sada dismissed insinuations of any planned asset-stripping of the Aluminum Smelter Company Ltd (ALSCON), saying the committee set up to investigate the matter had just submitted its report.
According to him, the committee’s report has not even reached the Chairman of NCP, meaning that the NCP is yet to receive the report for consideration. It is the NCP that has the right to say whether there is asset-stripping or not, because the assets were transferred based on certain agreements. So, the earlier statement from the media that there was no asset-stripping is jumping the gun.“
Sada announced that a committee to be headed by the Minister of Mines and Steel had been constituted by the council to come up with a strategy that would ensure that the entitlements of all ALSCON staff were settled.
He said that the committee would also be expected to come up with a strategy to ensure that the company resumed full production. The minister said that the council also approved the transfer of its 51 per cent shareholding in Stallion Property Development Company to NNPC pensions’ funds to bridge pension gap.
Also briefing the correspondents on the outcome of the council’s meeting, the Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, said that the council granted a five-year leave extension to Associated Maritime Services, the concessionaire for the New Warri port. He said that the approval of the extension followed a “no objection memo“ forwarded to the council by the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, and the Minister of Transport.

The Federal Government on Thursday launched the first 10,000 mortgages for the commencement of the Presidential Initiative on the delivery of affordable housing units to Nigerians. The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in Abuja that the launch was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to fulfill its promise of providing affordable houses to Nigerians.
“During the launch of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) in January, Mr President made the pledge to provide affordable housing by the end of the second quarter of the year. This is so that Nigerians will be able to apply for mortgages in large numbers; we are here to implement his vision and dream. The launch today is the actualisation of this promise to move on the road to affordable housing finance for Nigerians,’’ she said.
According to her, the launch is the kick-off of the first initial 10,000 mortgages to be provided by lenders. She said the NMRC would provide mortgage lending with access to more liquidity and long term funds. The minister said the NMRC mission was to provide more liquidity for longer term funding for the housing sector. She said the initiative would address the limitation faced by banks to deliver mortgage services.
According to her, the ability of banks to deliver mortgage services is limited by the fact that 80 per cent of all banks deposit are for 30 days only. “This does not make for great strength or sustainability in providing resources for the housing sector. The NMRC provides greater access for financing of tenures from 15 to 20 years, instead of people buying houses and paying up in either, 12, 24 or 36 months, it is changed,’’ she said.
She said that prequalifying people for the mortgage was a critical step to home ownership.
The minister said that once a person was cleared by a lender, he or she would be emboldened to buy a house within the limit of the mortgage provided.
Okonjo-Iweala said that the scheme would target first time home buyer to buy houses between two and N20 million.
Okonjo-Iweala said that upon completion of the form, the processing time for prequalification which used to be six to nine months had been reduced to three to six weeks. “This will be subject to the level of risk analysis that will be undertaken by the mortgage lender,’’ she added The minister said that developers would be prequalified for building standards.
“We will be willing to work with any developer with reliable housing stalk and we can also work with developer who are just about to start construction of estates,’’ she said
She said the scheme would equally accommodate beneficiaries with existing loans who might need micro loan to renovate their homes.
The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs Akon Eyakenyi, described the scheme as a mile stone in the housing sector. Eyakenyi said the programme was part of Jonathan’s transformation agenda to evolve a plan for the timely delivery of affordable housing units to Nigerians.
She pledged the ministry’s commitment for the commencement of the project in August.
According to her, the ministry has received support from some states governments through the provision of land documents for the provision of the housing units.
The minister, however, appealed to states that were yet to make commitments to do so in the interest of their indigenes.
She appealed to private sector to seize the opportunity and invest in the initiative aimed at reducing the housing deficit in the country. Also, the Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr Gimba Ya’u Kumo, praised the efforts aimed at providing affordable housing units to Nigerians. Kumo described the initiative as the beginning of a revolution in the housing sector in the country. He said the FMBN had concluded arrangement to introduce a housing scheme for Nigerians in the Diaspora before the end of 2014. Kogi, Niger, Anambra and Bauchi had keyed into the scheme.

The federal government would give priority to young Nigerians who never own houses in the allocation of the 10, 000 housing units, launched, in Abuja, last Thursday. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed this while explaining how the scheme would work to serve the dual roles of bridging the nation’s housing deficit and creating massive job opportunities for professionals and tradesmen in the building industry.
She said that priority would be given to first – time house ownership applicants and young Nigerian desirous of owning their personal houses who would receive between N 2 million to N20 million. “This scheme is aimed primarily at the first-time home buyers who are desirous of owning their personal homes in which to live.”, she said. According to her, the mortgages would be “to purchase a home costing between 2 million and no more than 20 million Naira”.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said that the scheme has been made flexible to accommodate various facility windows such that one could get a house allocated to him out of the housing stock of developers, while others who have their lands could also apply for loans to build the houses on their own or upgrade existing houses. According to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, the scheme being funded through the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company, NMRC, would provide participating Primary Mortgage Institutions, PMIs, with low-interests, long-term funds for onward lending to the Nigerian public.
The mortgage facilities, she explained, would not only attract a low interests but would be re-paid within a period of between 10 to 20 years, as against the current practice where banks and PMIs provide high-interest mortgages and demand re-payment within one to three years. Her words, “the NMRC is set up as a re-financing vehicle set up to provide mortgage lending institutions with increased access to liquidity and long-term funds. “Since the ability of banks to deliver mortgage services is limited by the fact that 80% of all Banks’ deposits are for 30 days only, the NMRC, in ensuring greater access to finance for tenors of up to 20 years, will help accelerate the growth of the mortgage market for all income levels”.
Interested members of the public would have to log on to the scheme’s website, www.housingfinance.gov.ng where one would go through a checklist on eligibility requirements to verify he is a Nigerian and has been paying taxes regularly. “Once you have ascertained that you do meet the eligibility requirements you will be led to complete a very simple form requesting your personal details, those of your employer, state of origin, state of residence, salary range.
“Once you have completed the forms and have read the terms and conditions for participation you will submit the form. Upon submission you will be able to print out a copy of your completed form, or you can direct the completed form online to a mortgage lender of your choice for further processing for pre-qualification”, Dr. Onkojo-Iweala explained. On how to apply for the mortgage, she said that the process has been simplified such and that it would take between two and six weeks to determine whether or not a pre-qualified applicant is successful.
“Due to new mortgage underwriting standards as prescribed by the NMRC processing times for pre-qualification have been significantly reduced, from the usual six to 9 months (there are stories of 12 to 18 months waiting periods) to three to six weeks subject to the level of risk analyses to be undertaken by the mortgage lender and volume of transactions. Some of our partner mortgage lenders have pledged shorter turnaround times, as short of two days”, she said. On the socioeconomic impact of the scheme, the minister said, “it will lead to the increased contribution of housing to GDP from the current negligible 3.1% of our rebased GDP to the high teens of emerging and developed economies such a Malaysia and the United States.
“It will lead to more jobs being created and to greater economic inclusion. It is estimated that for every new house built 3 direct and 8 new indirect jobs are created. Unlocking the housing sector will mean the creation of thousands of jobs for architects, builders, plumbers, welders, electricians, painters.

Bank customers had agonising experience conducting inter-bank transfers last week due to breakdown of the funds transfer platforms of some major banks. Vanguard investigation revealed that the breakdown was prevalent among the top five banks. Investigation also revealed that the problem started as incessant breakdown on Wednesday, became severe on Thursday, making it difficult for bank customers to transfer money from one bank to another or receive money transferred to them from other banks. Also many bank customers could not use their debit card to withdraw money from ATM.
On Friday, At the Akowonjo branch of one of the top five banks, with headquarters on the CMS Church axis of Marina on Lagos Island, a male customer who refused to mention his name, told Vanguard he had been at the bank since it opened for business, waiting for his account to be credited with money transferred to his account the previous day.
Furthermore, the bank staff in charge of the funds transfer service announced to customers that came to conduct funds transfer to other banks that the service is not available. He said that funds transferred to other banks the previous day were yet to be effected as at that morning, and those transferred from other banks were yet to be effected. Upon enquiries the bank staff said the problem was from Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).
But an official of NIBSS, who spoke on condition of anonymity, dismissed the allegation, saying the problem is not from NIBSS. The official said that NIBSS platform is running efficiently and have been processing funds transfer request from banks. The official confirmed to Vanguard that the reality is that some banks are having problems with their electronic banking platforms and that may be why customers were having problem conducting funds transfer services.
Investigation further revealed that while the problem was prevalent among the tier one banks, it was more severe in four of the banks. For example, the male customer of one of the tier one banks, with headquartered in Eko Hotel axis, and had problem transferring money from his bank for more than one week. Also the male customer of another tier one bank, with headquarter on Marina, travelled to the East for business without cash, hoping to make withdrawal through ATM when he gets to his destination. However, upon getting to his destination, he could not make withdrawal through ATM, due to network breakdown. After several attempts, he had to appeal to the local branches to allow him do across the counter withdrawal so that he could have money to conduct the business he came for and also have money for his return journey.
Investigation also revealed that while in some of the banks the problem is limited to inter-bank funds transfer services, in some banks, the internet banking platform is also affected. For example, in one of the tier one bank, which recently relocated its headquarters from one part of Victoria Island Lagos to another, both the funds transfer and internet banking platform of the banks were affected, causing severe pain to its customers.
As at the close of business on Friday, customers of the bank were seen hopping from the ATM of one bank to another, in a bid to withdraw money from their account through the ATM of other banks.
This frustrating experience was suffered by customers of most of the top five banks as they had difficulty withdrawing from the ATM of other banks, and had to go through the stress of visiting the nearest branch of their banks, to make cash withdrawal.
An official of one of the affected banks who spoke on condition of anonymity said the funds transfer platform of the bank was working saying he just used it to transfer money to the customer of another bank. He said that what the customers experience might be a temporary breakdown.

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has assured Nigerians of affordable interest rate under the new mortgage refinancing scheme of the Federal Government. Okonjo-Iweala gave the assurance while fielding questions from newsmen at the launch of 10,000 mortgages for Affordable Homes Scheme in Abuja.
“This project is a market-driven process; we know and hope that the interest rate will be lower than the normal one which is about 20 per cent that people get on mortgage now. We are passing on the money to the mortgage refinancing institutions that will purchase mortgages from the primary lenders at the same rate that government got it.
“Zero per cent interest, 0.7 per cent commitment charge, 0.5 per cent commitment fees and so on, but they will need to add some charges for processing. So, nobody is going to get the mortgage at zero per cent; it will be a market-based rate but am sure it will be better than 20 per cent we are experiencing now. You can look out for anything from 15 per cent and below,’’ she said.
The minister added that the new scheme will also ensure longer tenure for repayment and a lower interest rate. She said that the new scheme would also accommodate those who might lose their jobs after accessing the mortgage facility. According to her, the primary mortgage lenders are being encouraged to restructure and ensure that those who fall under such category are given more time to continue repayment.
“They are not going to forgive you on the mortgage. This is not a free; anyone who is looking for something free, this is not it. You have to be paying your mortgage, but if you fall on hard times or ill health and you can’t pay again, we can have the lenders to restructure it. They can give you a different pattern of payment or more time to be able to resume. That is the best we can do,’’ she said.
On the availability of internet in rural communities to enable rural dwellers to access the mortgage portal, she said banks and universities would be used to facilitate that.
She said that the portal would officially be opened to the public from August 4

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) depreciated by N90 billion or 0.64 per cent on Thursday as major stocks recorded price losses. The market capitalisation closed lower at N13.900 trillion from the N13.990 trillion recorded on Wednesday. Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 42,368.99, dropped by 271.5 points to close at 42,097.49.
Dangote Cement led the losers’ chart by N3.94 to close at N230 per share. Guinness depreciated by N2.3 to close at N195, while UACN and International Breweries lost N1.4 each to close at N61 and N26.65 per share respectively. Glaxosmith also dipped by N1.09 to close at N65.01 per share. On the other hand, Forte Oil led the gainers’ chart by N7 to close at N218 per share.
7UP bottling Company gained N6.97 to close at N107, while Nigerian Breweries grew by N1.05 to close at N180.1 per share. Stanbic IBTC appreciated by 7k to close at N31.24, while Ashaka Cement chalked up 58k to closed at N31.08 per share. Access Bank emerged as the most traded stock, accounting for 48.87 million shares worth N482.46 million. UBA Bank exchanged 46.26 million shares valued at N356.27 million, while Transcorp sold 28.53 million shares worth N159.66 million.
In all, investors exchanged a total of 354.760 million shares worth N6.91 billion in 6,248 deals. This was against the 713.842 million shares valued at N6.73 billion traded in 5,830 deals the previous day. The volume of traded shares represented a decrease of 50.30 per cent .

Sterling Bank Plc on Friday declared gross earnings of N48.7 billion in its transactions in the half year, which ended on June 30, 2014. This was contained in a statement by the bank in Lagos.
The earnings, according to the statement, represented a growth of 16.2 per cent when compared with N41.9 billion the bank earned in the corresponding period in 2013. The statement said that the bank’s profit-before-tax during the period was N6.34 billion as against N6.27 billion it recorded in the corresponding period in 2013.
The bank said that the “top-line” growth it recorded during the period was driven by income on interests, which rose to N37.44 billion from N31.08 billion it achieved in the same period in the preceding year.
According to it, net income on interest leapt to N21.28 billion during the period as against N15.17 billion it earned in the same period in 2013. Similarly, it stated, non-interest income during the period increased to N11.3 billion from N10.8 billion the bank earned in the corresponding period in the previous year. The bank also said that its operating income during the period appreciated to N32.54 billion from N25.95 billion in 2013.
It, however, stated that its operating expenses increased by 28.5 per cent to N23.8 billion as against N18.5 billion in the preceding year. The statement quoted the bank’s Managing Director, Mr Yemi Adeola, as saying that the performance demonstrated the underlying strength of the bank’s core business. Adeola said that in spite of the challenging operating environment, the bank achieved a 130-basis-points improvement in net interest margin.
“During the period, we completed eight new branches while 13 others are at various stages of completion. We also remodeled several of our existing branches, deployed 168 additional Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and signed-on over 200 merchants to drive our Agent Banking model for financial inclusion,” he said. He said that the bank would remain focused to ensure efficient service delivery and to deliver on its full-year targets and increased returns to shareholders. He expressed optimism that the trend would continue in the second half of the year.