Business

FCCPC to apply stricter regulations for consumer protection in power, digital lending sectors, others

Published

1 year ago

January 12, 2023

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has promised to apply stricter regulations and control on players in the power sector, manufacturing sector, and digital space, in the interest of the consumers in 2023.

This was made known by the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera while speaking on Arise Exchange, a special business report section of Arise News.

Irukera revealed that FCCPC had towards the end of 2022, embarked on further investigation and scrutiny of the power sector, fast-moving consumer goods, and the activities of digital lenders. An action that unraveled major irregularities that have laid the foundation for the areas the organisation would focus on in 2023.

The FCCPC boss noted that the agency has started unbundling more of its regulatory tools to create room for penalties in the months ahead.

He said, “Towards the end of last year, FCCPC opened an investigation into the activities of some of the biggest importers of power generators in the country and we made headway in sanitizing the area.

“In particular, the commission has so far tackled cases of wholesome practices across consumer goods, digital economy and some other sectors.”

Looking at the agency’s activities last year and also moving forward on what the plans are to strengthen its operations this new year, Irukera said over the period of several months, the commission was gathering intelligence and the intelligence had led FCCPC to the conclusion that there were some irregularities in the activities of the alternative power generating companies and players in the fast-moving consumer goods sector.

He said, “Through investigation and intelligence gathering, FCCPC concluded that there were some anti-competitive practices in some sensitive industries such as power; especially alternative power generating sector. We found out that there are some levels of coordination among big players who play in the 20 to about 200 KVA generators with shady deals.

“There were questions about how they were procuring the equipment and what they were importing. There were issues about duty-free weaver or using it to also Import spare parts which are prohibited and whether they were procuring for themselves, essentially engaging illegal transfer pricing,”

Irukera added, “Quite a number of investigations were carried out, especially in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). One of the first things we did was that early in the year, we started engaging the manufacturers about what we consider misleading.

“For instance, we discovered that they are reducing volume and content without reducing packaging. Of course, we also carried out the major investigation into the tobacco for penalties.”

Irukera disclosed that the last quarter of the year also saw the commission beaming its searchlight into the activities of the digital lenders, adding that even though the exercise is still ongoing, a framework has been put in place.

He said, “On the operators of the various digital lending platforms, our stand is that there must be a process and a credible model of operation to enhance sanity.”

Business

Nigerian banks’ loans to private sector drops by 11.93% in March – CBN

Published

7 hours ago

May 8, 2024

NewsDirect

Nigerian banks’ loans to private sector declined by 11.93 per cent in March amid rising interest rates.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, showed that loans to the private sector dropped to N71.21 trillion at the end of March 2024 compared to N80.86 trillion in February 2024.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, banks’ private sector credit also decreased by 6.66 per cent from N76.29 trillion in January 2024.

The development comes amid the continued tightening of monetary policy measures to curtail inflation.

The apex bank raised the interest rate to 24.75 per cent.

Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 33.2 per cent by March 2024, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.

Manufacturers in Nigeria have continued to lament the continued tightening of the MPR by the CBN.

Business

Zenith Bank, Access Bank bag nominations for African Banker Awards 2024

Published

19 hours ago

May 8, 2024

NewsDirect

African Banker magazine has announced the shortlist of nominees for this year’s edition of its African Banker Awards. Since its inception in 2007, the African Banker Awards has recognised the exceptional individuals and organisations driving Africa’s rapidly transforming financial services sector.

Zenith Bank and Ecobank were nominated for the Bank of the Year award while Access Bank and First Bank of Nigeria Plc were nominated in the Trade Finance category.

The Award winners will be announced during a spectacular gala dinner ceremony on the 28th May, in Nairobi, Kenya – a part of the official programme of The Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group.

The African Banker Awards is organised by IC Events. It is held under the patronage of the African Development Bank. The Awards’ Platinum Sponsor is the African Guarantee Fund, with African Export-Import Bank and Vista Bank as the Gold Sponsors, and the Cocktail Reception being sponsored by African Trade & Investment Development Insurance.

Nominees were selected from a record number of entries from across the entirety of the African continent. For the first time in the Award’s 18 year history, three nominees for the most prestigious ‘Banker of the Year’ are women, reflecting the growing number of female leaders in finance.

Speaking about the Awards, Omar Ben Yedder, Chair of the Awards Committee, also noted the growing role of Development Finance Institutions.

“Over the years, we have seen the evolving role of DFIs,” he said. “They are playing an important role in structuring transactions and in catalysing development, often filling the gaps in areas that are under-served or under-represented.”

“That said, the finance gap in infrastructure, trade and climate finance mean that the banking sector as a whole will need to be even better capitalised. But looking back at the 18 years of the Awards, it is night and day when you look at the size of our domestic banks and the transactions they are capable of structuring.”

Business

Pension fund assets drop to N19.69trn in March – PenCom

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2024

NewsDirect

Data from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) have revealed that Nigeria’s pension fund assets dropped marginally to N19.669 trillion for the period ended 31st March 2024.

This represents a marginal decrease of about 0.45 percent when compared with N19.759 trillion reported as net asset value (NAV) in February 2024.

This was contained in the commission’s monthly report for March 2024 released by PenCom.

According to the report, the total pension fund net asset value dropped to N19.669 trillion in March compared to N19.759 trillion reported a month earlier.

A closer look at the data reveals that investment in FGN securities continues to dominate portfolio allocation with about N12.200 trillion or 62.03 percent of total net asset value (NAV).

Pension Funds also allocated N2.058 trillion to corporate debt securities and N1.779 trillion to money market Instruments.

Investments in ordinary shares of local companies rose by 8.72 percent to N2.082 trillion from N1.915 trillion in February.

Fund II, which is the default RSA Fund under the Multi-Fund Structure, maintained the largest share of the Active RSA Funds allocation with N8.331 trillion or 42.35 percent of the total fund NAV.

Fund III also rose by 1.19 percent from N5.112 trillion to N5.173 trillion maintaining its second position for fund allocation.

Meanwhile, RSA membership for March 2024 rose by 0.22 percent to 10,280,956 from 10, 258,611 members in February 2024.

Pension funds’ NAVs have risen from N14.9 trillion in December 2022 to N19.7 trillion in March, representing a whopping N4.8 trillion or 32.21 percent increase.

For context, between 2021 and 2022, pension fund assets rose by just N1.57 trillion from N13.42 trillion to N14.99 trillion.

The rise is likely linked to a combination of a surge in pension fund contributions and a rise in portfolio values.

For example, FGN Securities has seen its Net Asset Values rise from N9.64 trillion in 2022 to N11.89 trillion as of March 2024.