Business

CBN Fines Access, Stanbic IBTC, UBA N800m For Allowing Customers’ Crypto Deals

Published

1 year ago

April 6, 2022

NewTimes

Emefiele Sick, Can't Meet With Reps - CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has fined Stanbic IBTC Bank, Access Bank and United Bank for Africa for permitting crypto transactions by customers in breach of a directive from the regulator last year, forbidding such deals, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

While Access Bank, the commercial banking division of the country’s biggest lender Access Holdings, which converted to a holding company this February, got N500 million in fine, Stanbic IBTC’s penalty was N200 million, according to the news outlet, which cited a disclosure at a virtual investor call arranged by the latter on Tuesday in Lagos.

CBN, sometime last February, embargoed cryptocurrency trading, going ahead to instruct banks to disallow transactions in it, noting they could trigger an exposure of the financial system to danger.

Wole Adeniyi, Stanbic IBTC’s chief, stated his bank heeded the order but admitted the two deals for which it is being punished is more of negligence than infringement as the transactions were processed through its system without the lender discovering it.

READ ALSO: Osinbajo Opposes Emefiele On Cryptocurrencies

The industry watchdog spotted the transactions and their details, by way of an ultramodern surveillance technology currently exclusive to it.

United Bank for Africa, one of Nigeria’s five largest banks in asset terms, also shared in the regulator’s wrath, incurring a penalty of N100 million.

Adeniyi said lenders are in talks with the CBN to give them leave to use the software.

“It doesn’t seem that they are going to entertain a refund, but they are now sharing intelligence with us to be able to kind of deter clients,” he said.

Apart from the United States, Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, is responsible for the biggest size of digital currency deals in the world, according to Paxful, which runs a platform for trading in Bitcoin.

The country is also home to the biggest proportion of retail users with transactions below $10,000, according to Chainalysis.

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Business

BREAKING:Nigeria Air Launch A Fraud – Reps

Published

2 days ago

June 6, 2023

NewTimes

Nigeria Air

The House of Representatives on Monday faulted the purported launch of Nigeria Air in the last days of the administration of former President, Muhammadu Buhari.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, declared the launch of Nigeria Air a fraud after the major stakeholders in the deal between the Federal Government and Ethiopian Airlines denied knowledge of the launch.

The Ministry of Aviation claimed Nigeria Air was only unveiled and not launched, which the committee dismissed as an attempt to divert the lawmakers’ attention.

Members of the committee were shocked when NAMA disclosed that the aircraft bearing Nigerian colours was on a chartered flight to Nigeria.

Other stakeholders who confirmed the disclosure noted that a chartered flight could be painted in any colour and with any inscriptions.

Business

BREAKING: CBN Speaks On Devaluation Of Naira To N630/$1

Published

1 week ago

June 1, 2023

NewTimes

BREAKING: Old Naira Notes Deadline Stays - Emefiele

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) on Thursday denied devaluing the naira .

This clarification came from the
Acting Director, Corporate Communication, Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, in a statement titled, “CBN Has Not Devalued the Naira”.

He said: “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a news report… titled “CBN Devalues Naira To 630/31”.

“We wish to state categorically that this news report, which in the imagination of the newspaper is exclusive, is replete with outright FALSEHOODS and destabilizing innuendos, reflecting potentially willful ignorance of the said medium as to the workings of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the exchange rate at the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) window traded this moming (June 1, 2023) at N465/US$1 and has been stable around this rate for a while.”

The bank advised the public to ignore the news report in its entirety, saying it’s speculative and calculated at causing panic in the market.

Arts & Culture

BREAKING: After Subsidy Removal, NNPC Increases Petrol Price To Over N500

Published

1 week ago

May 31, 2023

NewTimes

Senator Withdraws Support For Tinubu Over Choice Of Muslim Running Mate

President Tinubu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) on Wednesday adjusted the pump price of petrol by over 100% to between N488 and N557.

The development followed the announcement by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural address on Monday that fuel subsidy was ‘gone’.

However, it was learnt that the president will meet with organised labour from 2pm Thursday (today) afternoon.

The prices have now been adjusted upward from between N189 to N194 to N537 per litre in Abuja and other North-central States.

For Lagos and other South-west states, a litre of fuel now sells for between N488 and N500 per litre.

In the South-east, the price will range from N515 to N520, while in the North-west, the price of the product was raised to N540. In the North-east, it moved from N199 to N557 per litre.

For the South-south, it is now from N511 to N525 per litre. Nigeria’s subsidy budget of N3.6 trillion for this year, expires in June, 2023.