Banking Briefs
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GODWIN Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has approved the redeployment of deputy governors in the bank. This is in line with his vision of entrenching a more professional and people-focused central bank. With the new changes, Suleiman Barau, deputy governor, Corporate Services Directorate, is now the deputy governor, Operations Directorate, Kingsley Moghalu currently the deputy governor, Operations, returns to the Financial Systems Stability, FSS, Directorate.
Adebayo Adelabu, who was in charge of the FSS Directorate, is now the deputy governor, Corporate Services, while Sarah Alade retains her position as the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Directorate. The redeployments, which will take effect from Monday 23rd June 2014, is expected to contribute to the Bank’s vision of being a model central bank delivering price and financial system stability and promoting sustainable economic development.
First Bank Endows Professorial Chairs
FIRST Bank of Nigeria Ltd has endowed professorial chairs in 10 universities in Nigeria as part of its long-term commitment to sustainable educational development. The endowments have provided platforms for scholarly research, academic excellence and economic development in the institu¬tions and the country at large.
One of the institutions to benefit from the endowment is the Federal University of Technology, FUTA, Akure, where the bank’s professorial chair in Computer Science An¬nual Lecture was delivered recently. Bisi Onasanya, managing director of First Bank, said the endow¬ments are meant to promote capacity building and comple¬ment the efforts of the Federal Government in educational development.
Onasanya said the research would become a resource tool in aiding the fight against electronic fraud and malpractice as well as en¬hancing professionalism, reg¬ulation and grooming of future leaders for the sector. “First Bank is proud to be associated with projects that enhance human capital and economic development in the nation. Since 1994 till date, we have professorial chairs in 10 Nigerian universities, with the total endowments worth over N440 million and we have also strengthened the scheme with infrastructure develop¬ment.
“Our vision is to generate sustainable manpower devel¬opment to drive rapid growth of the national economy,” he said. In addition to the profes¬sorial chair endowment, the bank recently contributed the sum of N40 million to sup¬port the completion of a 1,000 capacity lecture theater in the university.
Social Money Scheme in Sterling Bank
STERLING Bank Plc is partnering with Bincom, an Information and Communication Technology firm, to introduce Social Lender scheme. According to the bank, Social Lender is a modified peer-to-peer lending solution which uses social media platforms to offer micro-credit to members of the platforms.
The scheme provides a platform for online fans and followers, who are customers of Sterling Bank, to obtain micro-credit loan via social media channels starting with Facebook and Twitter. The bank said that the application will integrate with existing financial structures of the bank such that users of the online platform can access small loans by normal methods of withdrawing cash without collateral.
Kelvin Steve-Igbodo, head, social media, Sterling Bank Plc, said that the funds were accessed and delivered through the convenient platforms. “Our friends on Facebook or Twitter can apply for micro-credit by visiting the Social Lender site. Users who request the loans on the Social Lender platform are rated by the algorithm that calculates their social reputation using various criteria.
“Based on this, the loan is either granted or rejected by the back-end social credit officer. Most importantly, the applicant must have an account with the bank. With the emergence of social banking on our various online platforms, the need to issue loans online has become relevant and this is why Sterling Bank has taken the initiative to develop a service that would make it easy for those who are active online to access micro credit,” he said.
Heritage Bank’s Agric Scheme for Youths
HERITAGE Bank has launched an initiative aimed at making teeming Nigerian youths to embrace agriculture, a sector that is crucial to the country’s economic development. The bank is partnering with Dbanj, a foremost musician, to inaugurate the initiative called Koko Agropreneur.
According to the bank, Koko Agropreneur is an entrepreneurial initiative that focuses on agriculture and agro-economic enterprise. The Koko Agropreneur initiative, among other things, is aimed at providing practical leadership and encouragement to the massive youth population to embrace the agricultural revolution being championed by Akinwunmi Adesina, minister of agriculture, as part of the national socio-economic transformation agenda.
It is also an initiative designed to stress the significance of Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises as a veritable platform for future economic well-being of the country. Dbanj had earlier this year, made a donation of N50million to the Nigeria Agricultural Entrepreneur, the national agricultural renewal project being championed by the ministry of agriculture.
As Bayo Ogunnusi, group head, SME Banking, said: “We at Heritage Bank are pleased to partner with Dbanj in the Nigeria Agricultural Entrepreneur initiative. As a bank whose ideology is to create, preserve and transfer wealth across generations, this initiative falls right within our purview.”
Compiled by Chinwe Okafor
— Jun. 30, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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