BUSINESS ROUNDUP: CBN fines First Bank; Tinubu to clean up Emefiele’s CBN; other stories

Hello, and welcome to the Business Roundup this week. Here, we bring you highlights of events that happened during the week -from the capital market to the mainstream business activities, while not forgetting the tech/economy build up.

Here are the Headlines:

•  CBN fines First Bank for fraudulent dealings, accounts
•  Tinubu promises house cleaning in Emefiele’s CBN
•  Tony Elumelu increases net worth in UBA to N22.85 billion
•  Nigeria Air’s launch faces hurdle amid bungled application for takeoff

Summary:

A letter from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has revealed that the controversial national carrier, Nigeria Air has been unable to move on to phase two of the Air Operator Certificate certification procedure.

Local airline operators had objected to the Federal Government’s delivery of the first Nigeria Air plane on the grounds that it violated a court order prohibiting the government from moving further with the project.

But according to a letter sent to the managing director of Nigeria Air on Friday and dated June 2, 2023, the airline’s request to move forward did not include the formal application form and the required paperwork, as stated in an earlier letter dated May 16, 2023.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fined FBN Holdings subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, N13.5 million for fraudulent dealings and other contraventions in 2022.

In a statement obtained on Saturday from FBN Holdings’ financial statements, released on Friday, it was revealed that the CBN penalised First Bank N2 million for fraudulent dealings/withdrawal through the opening of fraudulent accounts.

The lender was also hit with an N11.5 million fine for infractions in the month of April in respect of the CBN-NESI Stabilization Strategy by First Bank Kaduna.

President Bola Tinubu has hinted that there will be a thorough house cleaning in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure Nigeria becomes a country with a single exchange rate.

“Thorough house cleaning is necessary, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must work towards a single exchange rate,” Tinubu said during his speech at his swearing on Monday in Abuja.

READ ALSO:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Investors make N102.3bn in five hours; IMF scores CBN’s eNaira ‘disappointingly low’; other stories

Nigeria currently runs multiple exchange rates, with the official and black markets jostling for foreign exchange buyers. The multiple exchange rates regime has often been criticised by the private sector.

The chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu, has acquired more shares in the deposit money bank, a new corporate filing has shown.

Elumelu acquired a total of 17.43 million shares through his investment company, HH Capital Limited, to cement his spot in UBA as the largest investor.

The 17.43 million shares cost Elumelu N146.84 million, the document filed on May 26 but obtained from the capital market authority, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), on Tuesday, disclosed.

On NSE ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s capital market records sluggish growth as investors trade N6.11bn shares

The equity capitalization in the Nigerian capital market increased by 0.02 percent at the close of trading on Friday.

This represented a N6.67 billion growth in the value of investments at the capital market from N30.38 trillion to N30.39 trillion after five hours of trading today.

The All-Share Index rose by 12.25 basis points to close at 55, 820.5, up from 55,808.25 achieved by the bourse on Thursday.

On the tech scene, Grey, AWS, UNDP, WhiteBIT, DeFi, PrestaFreedom, LemFi, Zofi Cash, FinMont, CardoO were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

Grey, the Nigerian startup founded by Idorenyin Obong and Femi Aghedo, has introduced a seamless currency exchange service, allowing users to effortlessly convert to the local currency and access foreign currencies in their accounts.

Also, a European cryptocurrency exchanges, WhiteBIT, has announced intent to expand into the Nigerian market as it seeks to enable Nigerians access global crypto market.

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