BusinessDay 24 May 2017

16 BUSINESS DAY
C002D5556 Wednesday 24 May 2017
BANKING
In Association
with
Improving economy
positive for banking sector
Stories by
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
The economy
which is beginning
to recover
from recession
occasioned by
drop in oil prices and foreign
exchange shortage is
seen to impact positively
on the banking sector.
There has been a record
of improvement on the oil
prices and production capacity.
For instance, Brent
oil traded at $53.86 per barrel
as at Monday May 22,
2017 afternoon, extending
gains as Saudi Arabia said
all producers participating
in output cuts have agreed
on prolonging the deal till
the end of the first quarter
of next year.
Also the naira/dollar
exchange rate has recorded
some improvement,
How Fidelity Bank boosts savings with promo scheme
The savings deposit
base of Fidelity
Bank plc has been
enhanced since
it began the promo draw
initiative called “Get Alart
in Millions”, aimed at encouraging
savings culture
and promoting financial
inclusion.
In its 8th monthly draw
in the ‘get alert in million
promo held last week, the
bank gave out N11 million
to six lucky customers and
12 consolation prizes to
18 winners.
With this, the bank has
given out a total of N84
million to 128 winners
with several consolation
prizes since the inception
Segun Ajibola, president/chairman, council, Chartered
Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN)
of the initiative in September
last year.
Customers who won
N2 million each in the
last draw include Latinwo
Idowu Adefowope
from Ota branch, Ogun
State; Bonori Isa, a student
of Afe Babalola University;
Kafilat Olayinka
Dada, a fashion designer
of the bank’s Iyanu Ipaja
branch; Saifullahi Ibrahim
of Katsina branch
and Onoyima Ejiofor,
Okafor Francis and Mbah
Innocent (joint account
holders) from the bank’s
Nnewi branch.
Chijioke Ugochukwu,
executive director, shared
service and product, “We
with the local currency
presently trading at the
rate of between N378 and
N380 to the dollar from
N520/$ sold in January
and early February. This
follows the intervention
of the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) by way of
increased dollar supply in
the foreign exchange market
as well as the creation
of various forex windows
to ease pressure on access
to foreign exchange
and to close the huge gap
between the official and
Bureau De Change (BDC)
segment of the market.
“I believe the economy
is recovering fast from recession
that it found its self
in the last two years. The
global oil market is recording
some improvement
and some other sectors
of the economy are growing
and making some new
wave. All these put together,
we expect some modest
Nnamdi Okonkwo, managing director, Fidelity Bank
improvement in the overall
economy and when this
happens it will be positive
on the banking industry”,
Segun Ajibola, president/
chairman of council, Chartered
Institute of Bankers of
Nigeria (CIBN) said.
Speaking with journalists
in Lagos at the end of
the annual general meeting
of the Institute, Ajibola said,
“as at today, there are a lot
of challenges in the banking
industry in the area of
performance of borrowers
in particular honouring
their obligations as at when
due and in other key performance
indicators but as the
economy improves, we expect
that to rub positive on
the Nigerian banking and
financial institutions generally”.
Looking at the performance
of the Institute in
2016, Ajibola said “the
2016 is an improvement
over the previous year, but
are still working hard to
make sure we make more
millionaires. We are very
excited and pleased that
this is taking place under
the watchful eyes of the
lottery regulators.”
Speaking further she
said, “This is the best time
to have a promo that gives
out cash and several of
the winners of both today
and the past, have
expressed a lot of joy and
happiness that the winnings
will make great different
in their businesses,
in their family lives, in all
that they have proposed
and planned to doing this
years,”.
She advised members
we do know that the economy
was challenged in
2016. There were a lot of
global developments that
created disequilibrium in
the economy but through
some new initiatives, the
doggedness of the leadership
of the institute, and
our courage into new areas
and the activities of the
institute, we were able to
record some special improvement
in all aspect of
the institute life”.
Seye Awojobi, Registrar/CEO
of the Institute
said the year 2016 was both
challenging and rewarding,
adding that the Institute
weathered the storm with
remarkable achievements.
During the year under
review, he said the membership
of the Institute
grew slightly from 118,802
in 2015 to 122,680 in 2016
representing an increase of
3.26 percent.
of the public to leverage
the promo initiative to
open account with the
bank. According to her
the bank would continue
to introduce customer reward
schemes to encourage
loyal customers.
To participate in the
promo draw, you are required
to open a savings
account and grow it to
N20, 000 or top up existing
account with N10,
000 or more to qualify for
monthly draws to win up
to N3 million. You can also
grow your account balance
by N50, 000 monthly
to qualify for quarterly
draws to win star prize of
N5 million.