CHIEF Executive Officers of Microfinance Banks (MfBs) have attributed the high interest rate charged by the banks to the high cost of doing business in the sub-sector.

Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Tunde Fowler, has advised prominent Nigerians with tax liabilities to take advantage of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), as political, social or economic prominence will not insulate them from sanctions for non-declaration. Fowler gave the advice in an interview in Lagos  on Saturday.

Captain Temilola Okesanjo is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the newly established  NLNG Ship Management Limited (NSML). In this interview with Vanguard he spoke on the challenges of operating shipping activities in the Nigerian waters. Excerpts

THE Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive of the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, Mr. Mohammed Kari, has said that strengthening existing practices and creating room for better practices in the insurance industry can boost the economy.

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, recently concluded the first phase of verification exercise of defunct Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its mobile subsidiary, MTEL. At the Ketu, Lagos centre. Leader of NITEL/MTEL Pensioners Union, Comrade Austin Onokpise told Vanguard that the decision by the federal government to start paying them pensions have brought them relieve.

GROUP Managing Director, Royal Exchange Plc, Alhaji Auwalu Muktari, has been named the most outstanding Chief Executive Officer of the Year in the insurance sector, by the Independent Newspapers.

AS the bulls resurged at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE last week, after the momentary banking sector shake-down in the first two trading days, Nigerian Breweries Plc, NB, may be a key beneficiary ahead of this week’s rally. But this is also coming against a major investment analysts’ downgrade of the stock.

Last week, investors in the stock market went into frenzy after the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, directed banks with huge non-performing loans (NPL) and Capital Adequacy Ratio( CAR) below the required standard, not to pay dividend. In this interview, Alhaji Rasheed Ola Yussuf, Managing Director, Trust Yield Securities Limited, threw more light on the new dividend policy, saying that it is meant to protect stakeholders in those banks.

THE Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, said that the introduction of corporate governance index will aid companies rated ‘successful’ on corporate governance to easily raise capital either locally or internationally.

FIRST Bank of Nigeria Limited has said that it would participate at the 2018 Kaduna Trade fair by offering seamless and innovative banking solutions to participants at the fair.

THE four day rally that saw investors in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, garner N234 billion last week will continue this week as investors continue to take position ahead of the release of full year 2017 financials by the quoted companies.

STANBIC IBTC Stockbrokers Limited (SISL), CSL Stockbrokers Limited and Rencap Securities Limited, have emerged as top three best stockbroking firms for the month of January, 2018.

THE Central Bank of Nigeria CBN) is set to expand the scope of its Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) with funding support for the N42 billion Greenfield Integrated Poultry and Powderized egg plant.

FINANCIAL market activities  will this week be influenced by the release of data for the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Fourth Quarter 2017   (Q4’2017) and Full year 2017 (FY 2017) by the National Bureau of Statistics, inflow of N369 billion into the interbank money market as well as liquidity mop-up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

FOLLOWING a recent guideline from the National Pension Commission, PenCom, workers are jettisoning the Voluntary Contribution, VC, initiative of the Commission on the grounds that it defeats the original aim why workers embraced the initiative.