THE NATION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012
55
MONEY LINK
Analysts predict less fiscal tightening in 2012
A
FRINVEST West Africa, an investment and research firm has predicted less aggressive fiscal tightening measures in 2012. The research firm said in Economic Report for January that it expects the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) banking reforms to be concluded this year, to enhance lending to real sector of the economy. It said the Nigerian political environment and broader macroeconomic outlook seem to have stabilised since the widely accepted elections of April 2011. But while government continued to make steady progress in reforms to the banking, power and oil and gas sectors, 2011 saw a fundamental shift in public criticisms of government’s fiscal spend. “We believe this is a positive development and could go a long way in redirecting the allocation of economic resources with greater attention to probity, as well as a more responsive stance on Nigeria’s appalling social and economic infrastructure,” it said. Afrinvest said it estimates a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of between seven per cent and 7.5 per cent for the economy in 2012 with increased contribution from the non-oil sector especially agriculture, telecoms and financial services. It also forecasts improvement
Stories by Collins Nweze
in power supply on account of ongoing reforms in the power sector even as expected increase in collaborations with international organizations should help in addressing growing security threats. Based on unfolding realities in Nigeria’s macroeconomic backdrop, as well as anticipated global eco-
nomic conditions, the firm recommended a focus in 2012 on fundamentally strong companies, with strong cash generating capacity and strong management teams. It is also favourably disposed to sectors that are positively exposed to emerging opportunities in the Nigerian reforms agenda and infrastructural spend going forward.
Accordingly, it said banks have seen significant drops in their share prices since the commencement of the banking reforms over three years ago. As investors continued to shy away from banking counters in 2011, with significant sell-offs in key names, the sector recorded the second worst annual price perfor-
mance in 2011, shedding 32.9 per cent with Diamond Bank leading the underperformers’ chat. It said that from the perspective of the CBN’s sanitisation efforts and their impact on the health of the banking sector, perhaps the most value accretive move in 2011 was the completion of mergers and acquisitions which effectively signalled a lasting resolution of the crisis.
Sterling Bank supports cash-less policy with e-products
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TERLING Bank Plc is offering its electronic products and pay ment solutions to help customers achieve full compliance with the cash-less policy. In a statement, the bank said the convenience, security and efficiency of its e-channel products and services would ease any initial policy constraint and ensure that customers have seamless compliance with the new policy. According to the bank, with electronic payment solutions and products such as Sterling Point of Sale (POS), Sterling Naira Visa Card, Sterling Mobile, Sterling Verve Card, Internet banking, Sterling Webpay and others, customers would be able to carry out basic banking transactions electronically in the comfort of their homes, offices and anywhere using the various e-channels.
According to the bank’s Group Head of e-business, Fatai Amoo, all Sterling Bank’s electronic products and services are structured to enable customers to continue their normal transactions and operations without contravening the new policy. The Point of Sale (POS), according to him, allows local and international cardholders to pay for goods and services in a retail environment, pointing out that POS provides a convenient, modern and efficient means of processing real time transactions. The bank said it would provide the POS free of charge to viable applicants, who will pay standard industry transaction processing fee. “Sterling naira Visa Card is a globally accepted payment card that is directly linked to the customer’s naira denominated current or savings account. It enables customers pay for
goods and services anywhere in the world at any Visa Acceptance location. Sterling Verve card is a debit card linked to current and/or savings account,” he said. The bank said its internet banking platform-Sterling Net, allow, customers to access their accounts online real time and also carry out instant transfers to beneficiaries in a lot of banks in Nigeria as well as do some other basic functions including balance inquiry, statement of account, funds transfer between different accounts of the customer, funds transfer to third party beneficiaries within the bank and funds transfer beneficiaries in banks within Nigeria. According to him, customers can also use Sterling Mobile to transfer funds to beneficiaries in a lot of
banks in Nigeria as well as do a lot of other transactions using their mobile phones. The bank revealed that Sterling Webpay, a customised web solution designed to meet the business requirements of a given organisation, provides a secured payment platform that allows customers to effect payment for goods and services using their debit, credit and preloaded cards. Also, SterlingPay, a web-based corporate multi-channel payment solution, allows corporate clients to make payments to staff, contractors, vendors, suppliers and third parties through secure electronic highways. SterlingPay accepts schedules in various formats and credits the ultimate beneficiary in any bank in the country.
FirstBank, GTBank, Zenith, UBA rated top brands
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IRSTBANK of Nigeria, Guar anty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) have been rated the top four brands in the country. The ranking, done by Brand Finance, London, United Kingdom in its current Top 500 World Bank Brands Ranking is published in the February edition of The Banker Magazine. According to a release by the Country Representative – Nigeria,
The Banker, Mr Kunle Ogedengbe, the publication that carried out the ranking in association with Brand Finance, First Bank came top amongst the Nigerian banks and was joined in the ranking by Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa. Apart from the four, no other Nigerian bank made the ranking. Brand Finance Plc is the world’s leading brand valuation
consultancy with support for business needs in different areas including technical valuations for accounting, tax and legal purposes, valuations in support of commercial transactions such as acquisitions, divestments, licensing and joint ventures involving different forms of intellectual property among others. According to the Top 500 Bank Brands report, though there are nu-
merous ways of calculating brand value, Brand Finance uses methods recognised by courts and tax authorities. The valuations of the brand take into account data on the whole financial group and brandspecific financial data. These are however, broken down into different streams such as product lines and geographical locations.
Brand Finance uses a royalty relief method that values the brand based on what would be paid to use the brand if it were owned by a third party. First Bank has the highest brand value in Nigeria at $170 million and is closely followed by Guaranty Trust Bank with $169 million. Zenith Bank has a brand value of $147 million with United Bank for Africa having a brand value of $121 million.
DATA BANK Tenor
Amount N
Rate %
M/Date
3-Year 5-Year 5-Year
35m 35m 35m
11.039 12.23 13.19
19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016
WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount
MANAGED FUNDS
NIDF NESF
Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20
Price Loss 2754.67 447.80
INTERBANK RATES OBB Rate Call Rate
7.9-10% 10-11%
PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year
Amount 30m 46.7m 50m
Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34
Date 28-04-2011 “ 14-04-2011
GAINERS AS AT 3-2-12 SYMBOL OANDO BERGER AGLEVENT CUTIX GUARANTY NAHCO CCNN BAGCO DIAMONDBNK AIICO
O/PRICE 16.30 8.87 1.33 1.34 14.10 7.60 4.75 1.70 2.61 0.50
C/PRI CE 17.10 9.30 1.39 1.40 14.65 7.87 4.90 1.74 2.67 0.51
CHANGE 0.80 0.43 0.06 0.06 0.55 0.27 0.15 0.04 0.06 0.01
LOSER AS AT 3-2-12 SYMBOL CADBURY CHEVRON CUSTODYINS JOHNHOLT UPL VITAFOAM REDSTAREX INTBREW CAP IKEJAHOTEL
O/PRICE 9.62 50.59 1.82 5.89 3.25 3.31 2.49 5.86 15.22 1.49
C/PRICE 9.14 48.07 1.73 5.60 3.09 3.15 2.37 5.58 14.50 1.42
Amount
Offered ($) Demanded ($)
Amount
Exchange
Sold ($)
Rate (N)
Date
450m
452.7m
450m
150.8
08-8-11
250m
313.5m
250m
150.8
03-8-11
400m
443m
400m
150.7
01-8-11
EXHANGE RATE 26-08-11 CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Currency
Year Start Offer
Current Before
C u r r e n t CUV Start After %
NGN USD
147.6000
149.7100
150.7100
-2.11
NGN GBP
239.4810
244.0123
245.6422
-2.57
NGN EUR
212.4997
207.9023
209.2910
-1.51
149.7450
154.0000
154.3000
-3.04
Bureau de Change 152.0000 (S/N)
153.0000
155.5000
-2.30
Parallel Market
154.0000
156.0000
-1.96
NSE CAP Index
NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N)
27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37
28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16
% Change -1.44% -1.44%
MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name
(S/N)
153.0000
DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11
July ’11
Aug ’11
MPR
6.50%
6.50%
8.75%
Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate
8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%
8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%
9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 9.4%
Offer Price
Bid Price
9.17 1.00 121.47 98.43 0.76 1.04 0.88 1,642.73 8.24 1.39 1.87 7,329.39 193.00
9.08 1.00 121.33 97.65 0.73 1.04 0.87 1,635.25 7.84 1.33 1.80 7,142.17 191.08
ARM AGGRESSIVE KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND THE LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY THE DISCOVERY FUND • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED
CHANGE 0.48 2.52 0.09 0.29 0.16 0.16 0.12 0.28 0.72 0.07
• STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND
NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days
Rate (Previous) 24 Aug, 2011 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250
Rate (Currency) 26, Aug, 2011 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%
Movement
OPEN BUY BACK Previous
Current
04 July, 2011
07, Aug, 2011
Bank
8.5000
8.5000
P/Court
8.0833
8.0833
Movement