GLOBALLY there have been increasing trend towards sustainable business practices. This move is driven by various factors including government policies as reflected in  PlasTax, a plastic bag tax introduced by the Republic of Ireland in 2002.

THE delay in the release of statutory allocation funds due to the inconclusive meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, last week has triggered uncertainty over direction of cost of funds in the interbank money market this week. This is in spite of liquidity boost of N409 billion expected from maturing treasury bills this week.

DIAMOND Bank Plc said it has committed N105 million in seven years in grants to support budding entrepreneurs in the country through its Building Entrepreneurs Today, BET, programme.

FCMB Bank (UK) Limited recently obtained a variation of its banking permission to include retail (investments) services. The permission was granted by the Prudential Regulation Authority and became effective on June 8, 2018. 

WEMA Bank Plc has  introduced agent banking in Kano State as it seeks to strengthen its contributions to developing the informal sectors and financial inclusion throughout the Northern region.

As the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)  ended the first half of the year,  H1’18, with a disappointing 0.09 percent increase in the All-share Index, and 1.9 percent gain in market capitalisation, analysts have projected that increased political uncertainty generated by pre-election activities,  will further contrain the perfomance of the stock market in the second half of the year H2’18.

CUSTODIAN   Investment Plc has introduced an interactive digital platform called ‘Max’. According to the company, ‘Max’ which is Nigeria’s first insurance ChatBox is aimed at making the purchase of insurance policies and processing  of claims easier for customers

Manufacturers Associa-tion of Nigeria (MAN) has accused the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN) of not addressing concerns of stakeholders regarding the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), saying there is need for the federal government to appoint an independent national negotiator.

BudgIT, a civic tech transparency organization has berated state governments for not disclosing details of their 2018 budget. The group also accused the governments of Lagos state and Kwara state of been notoriously opaque in budget disclosures. In a statement titled, “Opaque Nigerian State Budgets”, signed by the Project Manager, BudgIT, Mr. Abayomi Akinbo, the group said that twenty-one states of the federation are yet to publish online their 2018 budget documents for consumption by citizens.

Countries and organisations that plan to borrow money will pay higher interest rates due to rising yields on bonds. FSDH Merchant Bank made this projection in its weekly insight saying that borrowing cost and bond yields in financial markets would continue to increase due to continues changes in monetary policy of developed countries.  

BANKS said they will further tighten loan conditions in the third quarter 2018, Q3’18, even as they increase lending to the various segments of the economy.

In this interview, Mr. Peter Irene, Interim Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of International Energy Insurance Plc, IEI, speaks on efforts to get the company back on track. Excerpts

ASSET Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has restructured its asset sales in a bid to facilitate speedy disposals.

THE Nigerian insurance sector may continue to witness a lull in aviation business, as low financial and human capacity, huge risk exposure, and dearth of local airlines in the aviation sector continue to put underwriters away from aviation business.

NIGERIA and 29 other countries in the continent are to be insured against drought, flood and cyclone disasters by 2020, according to Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) report.