Banking
China central bank suggests faster tempo for freeing yuan
BEIJING – With a shift in tone and language, China’s central bank governor has dangled the prospect of speeding up currency reform and giving markets more room to set the yuan’s exchange rate as he underlines broader plans for sweeping economic change.
The central bank under Zhou Xiaochuan has consistently flagged its intention to liberalize financial markets and allow the yuan to trade more freely, even before the Communist Party’s top brass unveiled late last week the boldest set of economic and social reforms in nearly three decades.
But since the 60-point reform plan was released, Zhou has suggested urgency in pushing for change, although he has not provided any specific timetable. He promised on Saturday to “pull out all stops to deepen financial sector reforms”.
Dariusz Kowalczyk, an economist at Credit Agricole in Hong Kong, said the governor’s comments could mean that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will widen the trading band of the yuan in the near term.
“That probably means there is more upside for the renminbi,” he said. The yuan, also known as the renminbi, has risen this year to 6.09 per dollar from 6.23 at the end of 2012 and hit a record high of close to 6.08 in October.
However, there was little evidence of any new found freedom for the yuan in trading on Wednesday. On the one hand, the central bank set its daily fixing for the starting point of yuan trade at a record high, but dealers said open market gains were checked by state-run banks selling the currency, probably on behalf of the central bank.
In addition, the daily fixing has been consistently weaker than the spot market, indicating the central bank is trying to rein in the currency’s strength.
“The PBOC is still intervening heavily to prevent the CNY (yuan) from appreciating more,” said RBS economists Louis Kuijs and Tiffany Qiu in a client note, referring to dollar trade inflows and speculation that are putting the yuan under pressure to rise.
“Freeing up the currency would imply a very large appreciation versus the USD (dollar), something for which we believe there would not be appetite right now.”
“BASICALLY”
Zhou’s latest comments were released as part of a public guide book to the Communist Party’s reforms, on sale in bookshops for 30 yuan ($5).
At more than 300 pages, it provides the full text of the Communist Party’s blueprint and an explanation of the changes by President Xi Jinping. It includes articles by top officials, such as Zhou.
In the guide book, Zhou says the central bank would gradually expand the yuan’s trading band to help make the currency more flexible and market-driven – comments that repeat a long-standing central bank position.
“We will widen the floating range of the yuan exchange rate in an orderly manner and increase the two-way flexibility of the currency,” Zhou was quoted as saying.
To that end, the People’s Bank of China will “basically” exit from regular intervention on the currency market, he said, going slightly further than in previous comments when he had said it would reduce intervention.
For years, the central bank has bought up foreign exchange, mostly dollars, to curb strength in the yuan fuelled by the country’s export engine, building the world’s biggest currency stockpile of $3.66 trillion.
Such currency intervention has been a key driver of money and credit expansion, fanning inflationary risks and housing bubbles.
The yuan’s trading band was last widened in April 2012 to allow the exchange rate to rise or fall 1 percent either side of the midpoint fixing announced daily by the central bank.
“We must seize the favorable time window to quicken the pace of realizing yuan convertibility in capital account,” Zhou said.
Full convertibility would allow the free movement of capital across China’s borders, a demand of many of China’s trading partners. The central bank has pledged to make the yuan “basically convertible” by 2015, but it has not made clear what that means.
Some analysts caution against high expectations for the speed of financial reform, noting some policymakers fear allowing the currency to move freely too quickly could expose the economy to volatile capital flows, such as the ones blamed on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s economic stimulus program.
Analysts expect the central bank to unveil a long-awaited deposit insurance system by the end of this year or early in 2014 to pave the way for freeing up bank deposit rates, which are now subject to administrative caps.
Such a scheme would protect depositors as Beijing is concerned some smaller lenders could go under as banks compete for deposits in a more open regime. Earlier this year, the central bank removed controls on lending rates.
“We will choose a time when conditions are ripe to life controls on deposit rates, which we think is the final step of liberalizing interest rates,” PBOC Vice Governor Hu Xiaolian told a forum in Beijing on Wednesday.
“FAVORABLE WINDOW”
The reforms are aimed at helping Beijing engineer a shift in the giant economy away from investment- and exports-led growth to activity fuelled more by consumption and services.
The OECD, in forecasting China’s economic growth would pick up to 8.2 percent in 2014 from 7.7 percent this year, urged Beijing to quicken its reforms while growth is holding steady.
“There is now a favorable window,” the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in an update of its global forecasts.
While the Communist Party leaders set the direction for reform in a four-day conclave that ended last week, it will be up to government ministries and agencies to put them into effect.
The head of the country’s top economic planning agency promised fast results in an interview with the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper.
“We should quickly launch a batch of projects in financial, oil, power, railway, telecommunications, resource exploration, public utilities to attract private-sector investment,” Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission said.
Another senior official, Yang Weimin, vice head of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Finance and Economic Affairs, told a news briefing that reforms would help ease local government debt, although he didn’t explain how.
An explosion in local government debt accompanied Beijing’s response to the global financial crisis and many analysts see it as a major risk hanging over the economy.
Yang said the reforms would include more tax revenues for local governments, allowing qualified localities to sell bonds, and setting up a new policy bank to fund urban infrastructure and housing projects under Beijing’s urbanization drive.
– REUTERS
Banking
Millions of customers still stranded worldwide 24 hours after GT Bank online operations suffered attacks
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.
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.
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“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.”
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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