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50 customers owe banks N5.23tn

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LAGOS-FIFTY customers owe commercial banks the sum of N5.23tn, representing 33.4 per cent of the total private sector credit exposure of N15.68tn, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Financial System Stability report has stated.

The FSS report, posted on the CBN website on Saturday, also showed that the nation’s banks gave N1.537tn loans to oil companies and some state governments in the first six months of the year.

“The  total  exposure  to  the  top  50  obligors  stood  at N5.23tn  (33.4 per cent)  of  total  industry  credit exposure of N15.68tn,” the CBN said in the report.

Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun

Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun

Although the report did not give the identities of the 50 big bank debtors, it indicated that non-performing loans in the period under review grew by 158 per cent from N649.63bn at end-December 2015, to N1.678tn at end -June 2016.

The NPL ratio rose to 11.7 per cent from 5.3 per cent, thus exceeding the prudential limit of 5.0 per cent, it stated.

It also said that as of June ending 2016, loans to oil and gas sector by the banking sector had hit N4.5tn, representing 28.77 per cent of the total industry loan.

The CBN noted that the development did not augur well for the industry well-being.

The 81-page FSS report stated in part, “Credit exposure to the dominant sectors is as follows: 28.77 per cent to oil and gas sector; 12.95 per cent to manufacturing; 8.84 per cent to governments; and 8.69 per cent to general commerce.

“Credit  risk  is  expected  to  trend  higher  into  the  second  half  of  2016 owing to increased  loan impairments resulting  from  the  depreciation  of  the  naira,  inability  of  obligors  to  service foreign currency-denominated loans, as well as bank exposures to the oil and gas sector.”

A total of N1.204tn loan was given to the oil and gas while N333bn was given some state governments within the six-month period.

The report stated, “At end-June 2016, loans to the oil and gas sector constituted 28.77 per cent of the gross loan portfolio of the banking  system as credit to that sector grew to N4.511tn, compared with N3.307tn at end-December 2015. Loans to state governments rose to N1,386.61bn from N1,053.97bn at  end-December 2015, as  declining  revenues continued to constrain payment of salary by  some states, funding of key services and execution of developmental  projects.

“This was despite the CBN’s N338bn special intervention scheme designed to refinance states’ debts, as well as a debt restructuring programme introduced by the Debt Management Office, which enabled states to restructure their commercial loans in the preceding period.  However, to prevent further financial crisis, a fresh facility of N90bn with a nine per cent interest rate was made available to the  states.”

According to the CBN, the biting economic recession has made the market share of the five biggest commercial banks in the country in terms of total assets to decline by 17.3 per cent in six months.

The report read in part, “In terms of size of assets and deposit of banks, the market share of the five largest banks in the first half of 2016 declined to 43.30 and 51.96 per cent, from 60.61 and  52.94 per cent in  the  second half of 2015, respectively.

“The market share of the largest bank’s deposits and assets stood at 12.84 and 13.52 per cent, respectively in the first half of 2016. The remaining 18 banks had market shares ranging from 0.21 to 6.58 per cent in deposits and 0. 26 to 6. 41 per cent in assets, reflecting low competition in the market.”

Despite the improvement recorded relative  to  the  first  half  of  the  year, the structure of the banking industry in the first half of 2016 remained oligopolistic, according to the report.

Economic and financial experts said the challenging economic situation had led to muted low growth in the banking industry with most banks scaling down drastically on their lending activities.

Most banks, they added, were now being preoccupied with how to clean up their books by recovering some of the huge NPLs in their books.

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Banking

Millions of customers still stranded worldwide 24 hours after GT Bank online operations suffered attacks

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GTCO Acquires Funds Management, Pension Firms

By Yemie ADEOYE

GT Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading banks, with operations across Africa and the United kingdom, and with an asset base of about US$3.11 trillion is under a cyber attack which has left millions of its customers across the world stranded in the last 24 hours.

The bank which was renowned for its seamless online operations at inception has suffered dwindling online efficiency in recent years and this current attack didn’t come as a surprise to many of its numerous customers. However, it is becoming worrisome that over 24 hours after its online operations went down, the bank has not been able to arrest the situation and restore its online services.

Stranded GT Bank customers outside the banks premises

Several customers of the bank took to their X (formerly known as twitter) handles to express their frustrations at the bank, as several of the customers in the diaspora are unable to access their accounts and carry on with their transactions.  A customer , Jeff55 who lamented on his X handle about the development, stated that it is a thing of shock that a bank of this size couldn’t afford to have the necessary tools and experts to ensure a full protection of its online operations in this age and time.

Another customer Dimma stated that while Cybersecurity training may seem tedious, the recent #GTBank hack is a stark reminder that everyone is just a click away from a devastating attack.

Several media organisations had reported that hackers have stolen GT Bank website, and intercepted customers Data in massive phishing operation.

At the time of filing this report, Biztellers.com.ng checks on the banks website shows that it is still down and unaccessible, and neither GT Bank media and communications unit nor any of its agencies or surrogates have commented officially on the development.

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Banking

Tinubu commends increased crude production to 1.61 mbpd

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Says output surge buoyed by reforms he announced in May 2024 to address gaps in PIA

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday declared a resurgence in the oil & gas industry, commending the increased crude production to 1.6 million barrels per day.

The president, who said this in a national broadcast, maintained that the resurgence was buoyed by the reforms he announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Nigeria’s crude oil output got a boost to 1.61 million barrels per day in July 2024 through the president’s directive and the industry leadership provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Acknowledging what he called a resurgence of the once-declining oil and gas industry in his Sunday-morning broadcast to the nation, President Tinubu said that oil investors are coming back to Nigeria.

He said; “Our once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence on the back of the reforms I announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act. Last month, we increased our oil production to 1.61 million barrels per day, and our gas assets are receiving the attention they deserve. Investors are coming back, and we have already seen two Foreign Direct Investments signed of over half a billion dollars since then.

Read Also : BREAKING: Sell Crude To Dangote Refinery In Naira – Tinubu To NNPC LtdRead Also : BREAKING: Sell Crude To Dangote Refinery In Naira – Tinubu To NNPC Ltd

“Fellow Nigerians, we are a country blessed with both oil and gas resources, but we met a country that had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol, neglecting its gas resources to power the economy.

We were also using our hard-earned foreign exchange to pay for and subsidise its use. To address this, we immediately launched our Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (CNG) to power our transportation economy and bring costs down.

This will save over two trillion Naira a month, being used to import PMS and AGO and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and education.

“To this end, we will be distributing a million kits of extremely low or no cost to commercial vehicles that transport people and goods and who currently consume 80% of the imported PMS and AGO.

“We have started the distribution of conversion kits and the setting up of conversion centres across the country in conjunction with the private sector. We believe that this CNG initiative will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 per cent and help to curb inflation.”

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Banking

FBN Holdings On Course For AGM

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Plans are in top gear for the 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the FBN Holdings Plc.

The management made this disclosure in a notice it filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, where it averred that it has not been served with any court order against the proposed AGM.

According to notice, which was signed by the acting Company Secretary, Adewale Arogundade, FBN Holding said, “The attention of FBN Holdings Plc (the Company) has been drawn to recent media reports purporting that the Company has received a Court Order stopping it from holding the Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for August 15, 2023.

“We confirm that this assertion is a false narrative as the Company has, as at the date hereof, not been served with any court order to stop the forthcoming AGM.

“Suffice to mention that the AGM is a statutory meeting of Shareholders that must be held in accordance with the law, further to which the Company will notify the regulators and the public as appropriate if there is any lawful order to restrain the Company from conducting same.

“We hereby assure our esteemed Shareholders that the AGM shall hold on August 15, 2023, as planned and we look forward to their attendance and active participation at the meeting.”

However, court orders published in national dailies showed that the Federal High Court in Lagos had issued an order against the financial institution, barring it from holding its 11th AGM.

The order was entered pursuant to a petition by Olusegun Onagoruwa, in suit No: FHC/L/CP/1271/2022. It was addressed to the bank and some other bank officials.

It read, “Take notice that unless you obey the directives in the judicial order contained in the order made on July 15, 2022, by the Federal High Court, Lagos, by refraining from proceeding with the 11th Annual General Meeting of FBN Holdings Limited proposed for August 15, 2023, from seeking approval to issue or raise share capital in any manner whatsoever, from appointing or confirming the appointment of new directors, or in any other manner taking any step towards implementing, actualising enforcing resolution of the 10th Annual General Meeting of FBN Holdings Plc held on June 20, 2022, or in any other manner overreaching, disobeying or undermining the said order of a court, you will be guilty of contempt of court and you will be liable to be committed to prison and to there imprisoned.”

Biztellers brought you a report that a segment of shareholders had staged a protest at the headquarters of the bank on Monday, calling for the AGM to be held, as well as soliciting regulatory interventions.

It is expected that at the AGM, FHN Holdings is poised to breathe life into plans to seek shareholders’ approval to raise N150bn fresh capital via a rights issue and elect new directors including billionaire, Femi Otedola and Samson Ariyibi among other resolutions.

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