BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Uber, Bolt drivers threaten to halt services; Nigerian capital market’s valuation dips by N37bn; 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:

• DSS arrests Nigeria’s central bank governor, Godwin Emefiele
• Uber, Bolt threatens to halt services
• U.S. investment firm accuses Nigerian fintech, Tingo Group, of scam
• Nigerian capital market’s valuation dips by N37bn
• SEC declares Binance operation illegal in Nigeria, warns cryptocurrency investors

Summary:

The operations of Binance Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, have been declared illegal by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a statement by SEC on Friday, the capital market regulator said Binance is not a registered company under SEC, and its operation is not regulated by the commission.

SEC warned that any investor trading cryptocurrencies on the Binance exchange platform do so at their own risk, as it disclosed that the firm owned by Zhao Changpeng, has been targeting Nigerians through digital promotions.

The Department of State Security (DSS) has arrested the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, The PM News reports.

He was arrested shortly after his suspension by President Bola Tinubu on Friday night. However, the newspaper was silent on where the CBN governor was picked up by the secret police.

The president had in a statement issued by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, ordered Emefiele to transfer his responsibilities to the CBN’s Deputy Governor in charge of operation pending the conclusion of the investigation into his activities in office.

READ ALSO:BUSINESS ROUNDUP: CBN hikes interest rate to 18.5%; Court delays Oando’s deal; other stories

The equity capitalization in the Nigerian capital market dropped by N37 billion at the close of trading on Thursday.

Consequently, the value of investments at the capital market crashed from N30.50 trillion to N30.46 trillion after five hours of trading today.

Similarly, the All-Share Index dipped by 67.93 basis points to close at 55, 956.59, down from 56,024.52 achieved by the bourse on Wednesday.

Investors traded 531.78 million shares valued at N7.68 billion in 6,061 deals on Thursday.

Car-hailing drivers in Nigeria under the umbrella of the Amalgamated Union Of App-Based Transport Workers Of Nigeria (AUATWON), have demanded Uber and Bolt reduce their commissions.

The drivers are demanding that the commission received by Uber and Bolt should be reduced by 50% after the car-hailing companies increased their ride fees.

In a statement on Wednesday expressing their demand, AUATWON said the drop in commission will enable them to cope with maintenance costs, spare parts and various overhead costs and the current fuel increase.

U.S. investment research firm, Hindenburg Research, has alleged that Tingo Group, a fintech company owned by Dozy Mmobuosi, is a scam.

In a report released on Tuesday, Hindenburg Research said Tingo is a diversified business, which has subsidiaries spread across the mobile phones market, food processing, and online food marketplace for farmers in Nigeria.

However, in their research, Hindenburg claimed it discovered that Tingo’s operations are non-existent but that Mmobuosi reportedly goes around with dubious claims.

NSE ROUNDUP: Investors reduce equity investments to N45.97bn in five days

Investors traded 2.196 billion shares valued at N45.9 billion in 31,655 deals this week.

This indicates the capital market underperformed this week when compared to the 2.586 billion shares valued at N46.643 traded by investors in 35,122 deals last week.

The Financial Services Industry led trading this week after shareholders splashed N15.6 billion for 1.578 billion shares in 14,851 deals.

The Oil and Gas Industry followed with investors trading 157.221 million shares worth N1.304 billion in 3,549 deals.

On the tech scene, FoodCourt, Tingo Mobile, Afrorama, EMGuidance, Rology, Autobia, MVNO, Zeal, Google, Trade Lenda were some of the names that made the headlines in the tech ecosystem this week.

Nigeria’s Trade Lenda, a digital bank supporting SMEs and farmers, has been shortlisted for the 2023 Go Global Awards.

Also, Autobia, a B2B platform for automotive aftersales and spare parts, has raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round.

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