2 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Wednesday <strong>22</strong> <strong>Aug</strong>ust <strong>2018</strong> NEWS Stanbic IBTC is top financial institution for capital inflows in Q2 <strong>2018</strong> Omobola Adu, Sobechukwu Eze, Emeka Ucheaga & David Ibidapo Stanbic IBTC bank leads again in terms of the most amount of capital inflows into Nigeria through financial institutions in Q2 <strong>2018</strong> according to the data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Total capital inflows into Nigeria in Q2 <strong>2018</strong> declined to $5.513 billion from $6.303 billion recorded in Q1 <strong>2018</strong>. Out of the $5.5 billion that US Embassy to reopen Abuja office on Friday IFEOMA OKEKE The U.S. Embassy has announced that operations will resume at its Abuja Consular office on Friday, <strong>Aug</strong>ust 24, <strong>2018</strong>. The embassy made the announcement yesterday in a statement on its official website https:// ng.usembassy.gov/. “The U.S. Embassy in Abuja’s consular section will re-open on <strong>Aug</strong>ust 24 for full services for both visas and American Citizen Services (ACS). Please note that consular functions at the U.S. Consulate, Lagos were never affected and will continue as usual. We regret the inconvenience this interruption of service in Abuja has caused,” the statement read. FMBN rent-to-own housing gulps N65bn in 20 states Tony Ailemen, Abuja The Federal Mortgage of Nigeria, FMBN’s “rent to own “ housing projects have so far gulped over N65 billion with over 20 states benefiting from the projects. This is just as FMBN said the project designed to provide affordable houses for low income earners across the 36 states of the Federation will soon get approval from the National Economic Council, NEC. Managing Director of the Bank, Ahmed Dangiwa, stated this on Tuesday, after meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Dangiwa who stated that they were at the Villa, to see Osinbajo as a follow up to their request for recapitalization, said they also briefed him on some of the activities so far rolled out , including the Rent to Own and the introduction of Equity contributions by the NHF which have just commenced. “What is new is that with the Rent to Own product, you don’t need to have any equity contribution and secondly, you enter into the house as a tenant and over years, it becomes your own just like owner occupier basis. The policy introduced by the FMBN to ease bottlenecks in housing ownership, is aimed at solving the problems of debt turnaround time, as well as eliminates the need for the off-takers to go through any flowed into Nigeria in Q2, about 54.9 percent or $3 billion was imported through Stanbic IBTC bank. Although, the capital inflow through Stanbic IBTC bank declined by a marginal 0.92 percent in absolute terms, the proportion of capital inflow through the bank increased from 48.5 percent in Q1 to 54.9 percent in Q2. Uchenna Ugah, a former banker in a Tier 1 bank told <strong>BusinessDay</strong> that “the main reason why we see Stanbic IBTC dominating in the capital inflows is due to its status as an international bank which It also advised visa applicants whose appointments were cancelled during the temporary closure to expect to be contacted for rescheduling. “Visa and ACS applicants with scheduled appointments for <strong>Aug</strong>ust 24 should come to the Embassy, as usual. Visa and ACS applicants with cancelled appointments between <strong>Aug</strong>ust 13 and <strong>Aug</strong>ust 23 will be contacted by the Embassy for rescheduling. “Visa and ACS applicants who were requested by an officer to appear again for follow-up questions on existing applications should contact our office to arrange a new date,” it said. The embassy had announced a temporary closure of its Abuja office last week for reasons beyond its control. ... MD seeks NEC’s support PMB to secure loans before getting the houses of their choice. According to him” You just find the estate that you want and you enter there in collaboration with your employer and then the house becomes your own. <strong>BusinessDay</strong> gathered that the projects are already going on in over 20 states of the federation. Dangiwa said interested off- takers and contributors to the NHF can now go and choose the houses they want within those estates. “FMB offices within those states will then profile you and then send to the head office for approval.” “The Vice-President appreciated the efforts that we are making; he promised to take it to the National Economic Council meeting for further deliberations. “There is not much challenge apart from the fact that we want people to come in and know that NHF is working; to know that the estates are there for people to go and choose and then move in.” He disclosed that the bank had to seek recapitalisation because commercial banks have recapitalized over time, adding that “N5 billion has been the share capital of the bank but only N2.5 billion has been paid; even when other Private Mortgage Banks have capitalized over N5 billion. “With the recapitalization of N500 billion, we will attract investment both local and informal; over ten times of that investment and it is going to reposition the bank properly,” he said. has stronger foreign currency accounts than other local banks, the transactions of many multinational companies are done in dollars and they would rather move their money through Stanbic than other local banks due to their easier access to foreign currency and short transaction execution time.” “A local bank would use various intermediaries and channels to transfer funds which could take a day or two, but using these international banks transactions are instantaneous. Another key reason is that foreign investors and multinationals are more comfortable doing international money transfers with international banks that they are already familiar with,” Ugah added. Other financial institutions, such as Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, Rand Merchant Bank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank accounted for $817 million, $7<strong>22</strong> million, $<strong>22</strong>0 million, $198 million, $194 million and $132 million of total R-L: President Vladimir Putin of Russia Federation; OPEC secretary general, Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, and Karin Kneissl, the foreign minister of Austria, during her wedding ceremony in the mountains of Styria, lower Austria over the weekend. Oil prices gain after longest weekly loss in 3-Years DIPO OLADEHINDE Crude-oil prices gained to $72.60 on Tuesday after weeks of losses which were its highest in three years as traders ponder over threats to economic activity in emerging markets against global supply risks. Brent fell to a four-month low of $70.30 earlier in the week, down about 13 percent from a peak of $80.50 in mid-May, dragged lower by threats in emerging markets, slower buying from China, higher OPEC and Russian production and concern that trade wars will slow economic growth and cause global energy demand to contract. For Oil market, the latest flashpoint is the lira crisis in Turkey, which is dragging down other currencies sparking fears of an emerging market crisis capital inflows respectively into the country. A further examination of the statistics by comparing the capital inflows in Q2 <strong>2018</strong> to that of Q1 <strong>2018</strong> shows that, capital inflows through Standard Chartered Bank declined by 11.30 percent, CitiBank increased by 43.05 percent, Rand Merchant Bank fell by 50.67 percent, Access Bank decreased by 31.33 percent, Zenith Bank declined by 52.39 percent and Guaranty Trust Bank increased by 19 percent. “Other local banks are trying to be more competitive in this market, opening branches outside of Nigeria. We have the likes of Zenith, Gtbank, and Access among others opening branches in the United Kingdom and China all with the goal for easier access of foreign currency,” Ugah concluded. Cumulatively, the amount of capital inflows through the six financial institutions and Stanbic IBTC bank declined from 92.19 percent in Q1 <strong>2018</strong> to 90.71 per- which has been building for some time as the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned last week that the oil market has been “cooling down,” which was partly the result of a restoration of outages in Libya, but also a slowing of demand in the second and third quarters. For Saudi Arabia, the turmoil in emerging markets is another complication in an already testy environment. OPEC has sought to adjust production in response to the unknowns of the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iranian crude and the collapse in Venezuelan output. Also, the emerging-market worries were compounded by signs of slower growth in China, where the trade dispute with the U.S. has dimmed the economic outlook for the world’s secondlargest economy and its thirst for oil. Johnson Chukwu, CEO of cent in Q2 <strong>2018</strong>. The decline could be attributed to major increases in capital inflows through Diamond bank where capital inflows surged by 1052.13 percent. On the other side, capital importation through United Bank for Africa, Ecobank Nigeria, Union Bank of Nigeria, Diamond Bank and First Bank of Nigeria accounted for a total of $191 million in Nigeria in Q2 <strong>2018</strong>. <strong>BusinessDay</strong> analysis also shows that capital inflows from internationally owned banks in Nigeria (Stanbic IBTC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, CitiBank and Rand Merchant Bank) in Q2 was $4.787 billion, while capital inflows through Tier one banks (Access Bank, First Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank) in Nigeria was $626 million and inflows through Tier two banks (Ecobank, Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, Union Bank of Nigeria and First City Monument Bank) in Nigeria was $95 million. Cowry Asset Management Limited said, “If the US and Chinese market slows down because of a trade war, the implication is that the demand for crude oil product will decline, which could affect Nigeria exports.” Managing director of Financial Derivatives Company Bismarck Rewane told <strong>BusinessDay</strong> that if the two largest economies in the world are in a trade war, then we are likely to see the fall out. “So, if there is a trade war we are going to be caught one way or the other there might be some advantages and also disadvantages. But globally, the whole world will be affected,” Rewane, said by Phone. According to data obtained from the Bloomberg terminal, West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.56percent to trade at $66.29.
Wednesday <strong>22</strong> <strong>Aug</strong>ust <strong>2018</strong> BUSINESS DAY 3
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