BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Court orders CBN to unfreeze Fintech firms’ accounts; Sokoloan to shutdown after paying N10m fine; Other stories

Hello, and welcome to 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:

• Bank loans to Nigerian govt hit N13tr in September – CBN
• Court orders CBN to unfreeze Fintech companies’ accounts
• CBN blows hot as fraudsters steal eNaira wallet details via Twitter
• Sokoloan to shutdown after paying N10m NITDA fine

Summary:

Bank loans to the Federal Government reached N13.03 trillion in September, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed.

In the latest credit and money statistics report obtained by Ripples Nigeria on Saturday, the apex bank said the figure was N307billion or 2.93 percent higher than N12.6 trillion reported in August.

The banking sector credit to the private sector increased month-on-month (M-o-M) by N425.9 billion from N33.4 trillion in August to N33.84 trillion in September.

Soko Loan Lending company, a quick credit startup, in Nigeria is on the verge of a shutdown months after the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) sanctioned the firm for privacy invasion.

On August 17, 2021, the agency had released a statement informing the public that Sokoloan will be fined N10 million for invading the privacy of Nigerians after accessing their details through the contact of the firm’s app users.

Sokoloan is one of many online lending platforms that send blackmail messages to their users’ contacts, a system that has been penciled down as the major flaw of the loan app market.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Nigerians against conversing with a fake eNaira Twitter handle, @enaira_cbdc, stating that the financial regulator is not on the social media.

Shortly after the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, the Twitter handle surfaced online, imitating the CBN.

READ ALSO: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s foreign reserves hit $38.18bn; Bitcoin investors gain $137.74bn in one week; Other stories

The @enaira_cbdc offered 50 billion eNaira currency to individuals on the social networking site that applies through the link it provided on its Twitter page, but the apex bank said it’s a means to steal eNaira wallet details of Nigerians.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to unfreeze the accounts of fintech companies pointing out that a circular does not translate into law.

The CBN had on August 17, secured, through an ex parte motion, an order freezing the accounts of Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited OPNS, Chaka Technologies Limited, CTL/Business Expenses, and Trove Technologies Limited for 180 days over alleged forex infractions.

Rise Vest Technologies Limited in a swift reaction said it was cooperating with the apex bank regarding the court order to freeze its bank account according to a statement to reassure its customers of the safety of their funds and the platform’s willingness to cooperate with regulators to address issues of concern.

On NSE ROUNDUP: Stock market records N34.55bn investment in five days, as investors trade high

Investment into the stock market improved this week, as investors parted with N34.547 billion to trade 3.001 billion shares in 25,932 deals.

This is in contrast to last week’s 1.565 billion shares traded on the exchanged floor in 21,621 deals worth N18.384 billion.

The Financial Services Industry continue to run riot in the capital market as the top performing sector, accounting for 53.33 percent and 45.18 percent of the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Meanwhile, on the tech space, Stitch, Autochek, Vendease and Facebook were some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Facebook rebranded to Meta. Stitch, a South African API fintech startup, announced expanding its venture into Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria.

Automotive technology company, Autochek, raised a $13.1M seed funding to scale its venture while Vendease, a Y Combinator-backed Nigerian agri-tech startup, raised a US$3.2 million in seed funding.

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