As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark this year’s Global Money Week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared March 30,2017 Financial Literacy Day.
Working in collaboration with 29 financial institutions and Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), the CBN also directed chief executives of banks across the nation to, on the stated date, visit over 800 schools in the 36 states to teach financial literacy curriculum provided by Junior Achievement Nigeria.
According to the central bank, over 80,000 students would be impacted through the cutting-edge curriculum provided by JAN which it said is based on the theme of this year’s Global Money Week “Learn, Save, and Earn” which runs from Monday March 27 to Sunday April 2, 2017.
Briefing journalists in Lagos yesterday, the Executive Director, Junior Achievement Nigeria, Mrs. Simi Nwogugu, expressed satisfaction of the organisation for having the opportunity to develop the curriculum and implement the initiative with the CBN’s Bankers Committee every year.
“The goal of Global Money Week is to teach children and youth about money, saving, creating livelihoods, gaining employment and becoming an entrepreneur through interactive and fun activities,” Nwogugu said.
“This aligns with the three pillars upon which Junior Achievement’s programmes are built: Financial Literacy, Work Readiness, and Entrepreneurship”.
Nwogugu pointed out that the financial literacy programme of the CBN and JAN was aimed at changing the mindset of young people by inculcating in them sound financial intelligence and discipline as they learn to save to earn and save early in life. She explained that sending bank chief executives to go and teach students in schools would go a long way inspiring them to strive to be as successful as their August teachers.
She also said that the programme was another way of solving the problem of unemployment in the country as these young ones will learn to be creative and self-sustaining. She revealed that the major challenge facing the organisation in meeting up with this undertaking was unavailability of volunteers, noting that they had been in search of people who would come to serve as volunteer teachers.
Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), is part of Junior Achievement Worldwide (JAWW), the world’s largest and fasted-growing non-profit educational organisation with a 121 country network.
FCMB Expands Operations
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited said it has opened two additional branches in Lagos and Ogun states.
The bank in a statement, explained that the latest touch points are located at Oniru, Victoria Island in Lagos and within the RCCG Redemption Camp (popularly known as Redeem Camp) along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun state. These bring to 205 the number of branches of the Bank spread across Nigeria.
FCMB explained that the development was part of its strategic expansion plan to ensure that existing and potential customers continuously enjoy the excellent service offerings.
It added that the location of the branches at Oniru and Redemption Camp took into consideration convenience for people in Oniru, parts of Victoria Island and Lekki in Lagos and Mowe, Ibafo and adjoining areas in Ogun state along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which is a major gateway to other parts of Nigeria.
Speaking on the opening of the new branches, the Managing Director of First City Monument Bank, Mr. Adam Nuru said ththn ank is pleased to open additional branches in Lagos and Ogun states to further extend the lender’s reach and promote financial inclusion by bringing the Bank’s services closer to customers, businesses and the general public in line with its position as a leading retail and commercial bank.
“Though most of our customers prefer to carry out transactions from wherever they are, using our alternate channels such as FCMBMobile, FCMBOnline, USSD Quick Recharge and ATMs widely spread across the country, some customers still prefer human interactions when banking. These additional customer touch points will deepen our commitment in providing customers with simple, helpful and reliable banking services’’, he stated.
Adam assured that FCMB, ‘’will continue to raise the bar in the manner in which customers are served and the kind of environment under which such services are rendered so as to effectively empower Nigerians and our customers in particular’’.
In his comment, the Vice President and Divisional Head, Service Management and Technology of FCMB, Mr. Oluwakayode Adigun, reiterated the bank’s commitment to deploy smart branching and technology to attain its strategic network expansion.
Foreign Exchange Gains Boost FCMB’s Profit to N14.3 Billion
FCMB Group Plc yesterday reported a profit after tax (PAT) of N14.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2016, showing a jump of 204 per cent from N4.7 billion in 2015.
However, the profit was boosted by N27.8 billion other income that came from foreign exchange gain. According to the audited results released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), FCMB Group posted gross earnings of N125.1 billion, compared with N123.5 billion in 2015.Net interest income stood at N69.53 billion, from N63.9 billion in 2015. Net fee and commission income fell from N15.83 billion to N14.2 billion, while net trading income was N5.68 billion, up from 940 million the previous year.
But other income (foreign exchange gain due to the devaluation of the naira) soared from N8.8 billion in 2015 to N27.85 billion in 2016.Consequently, net operating income rose from N9.9 billion to N33.53 billion. Although net impairment loss also rose by 136 per cent from N15 billion to N35.5 billion, profit before tax remained high at N16.2 billion in 2016, compared with N77 billion in 2015. FCMB ended the year with PAT of N14.33 billion, up from N4.7 billion in 2015. The board of directors has recommended a dividend of N1.9 billion which translates to 10 kobo per share.
The financial institution had given an indication of the impressive full year performance when it reported an increase of 453 per cent in PBT for the nine months ended September 30, 2016.
The Managing Director of FCMB Group Plc, Mr. Peter Obaseki had then said the performance reflected their focus on key soundness ratios and the need to maintain buffers against a sustained adverse operating environment.
Also, Group Managing Director of FCMB Limited, Mr. Ladi Balogun commented: “The nine months audited results of the bank reveal that the extraordinary performance of Q2 2016 offset the loss recorded in Q3 of N2.4 billion, thereby resulting in strong year-on-year profit growth of 913 per cent.
In order to avoid an unsustainable, non-cash, spike in earnings from further revaluation gains in Q3, the bank also significantly stepped up its loan loss provisions. The macroeconomic climate is taking a significant toll on the bank’s borrowing customers across all segments. Accordingly, the bank will maintain high provision coverage ratios (currently 131 per cent), continue to strengthen our capital adequacy ratio (currently 16.9 per cent) and our liquidity ratio (currently 36.8 per cent).”
