Companies
ALAT by Wema Launches Quick Loans and Virtual Dollar Card
ALAT, Nigeria’s only fully digital bank, has released two exciting new features: quick short-term loans and a virtual dollar card for paying online internationally.
ALAT Loans are accessible to all ALAT customers through the bank’s Android and iOS apps.
The ALAT Virtual Dollar Card is a non-physical, dollar-denominated debit card designed for online payments. Like ALAT Loans, the card is available to all the bank’s customers through its apps.
In addition, customers of the bank can now connect other Nigerian bank accounts to their ALAT profile on the app. This makes moving money around a lot easier for people who use multiple bank accounts.
The feature is one of several ways ALAT users can fund their account. Other ways are through local and international bank cards, and by transfer.
Speaking on the launch of the new features, the bank’s Chief Digital Officer, Mr. Dele Adeyinka expressed his team’s passion to make banking even easier for everyday people.
“A bank should do more than just keep money safe. That’s the bare minimum. The way we see things at ALAT, that bare minimum is no longer acceptable. We believe that these new features will further show the world that banking can and should be relevant to people’s lifestyles,” he said.
ALAT, has been well-received since its launch in May 2017, with over 200,000 accounts opened and over 1.1 billion naira in deposits as at February 2018.
ALAT is a branchless, paperless bank which provides financial services through its Android, iOS and web applications. It was designed in response to the growing needs of Nigerians for a financial institution that understands their needs, responds quickly to them and helps them save money.
ALAT is powered by Wema Bank, the first and longest-serving truly indigenous Nigerian bank.
The future of banking is digital, and Wema Bank is backing this belief by ditching the corporate dogma and taking proactive steps towards bringing tomorrow’s banking to the today’s customers.
Beyond ALAT, the bank continues to champion innovation and leverage technology in breaking barriers plaguing conventional banking. It pioneered the use of card control in Nigeria, an in-app tool that allows customers lock their payment cards from a mobile device. It also formed part of the pilot banks to successfully deploy M-cash, a mobile service that allows merchants receive payments by dialing a simply code. The Bank continues to improve on its *945# USSD Banking service and enhance its online and mobile banking apps to ensure it offers a seamless service across all its banking channels.
About WEMA Bank Plc
Wema Bank, the pioneer of Nigeria’s first fully digital bank ALAT, offers a range of retail, SME banking, corporate banking, treasury, trade services and financial advisory to its customers. Wema Bank operates with a National Banking Licence, with a network of over 136 branches and service centres across Nigeria, backed by a robust ICT platform.
The Bank is one of the few Nigerian banks with NPL ratio below 5% with a robust coverage ratio (including risk reserve) of over 100% in the face of asset quality pressures across the banking industry
More information can be found at www.wemabank.com
Companies
COVID-19, VAT, FX scarcity adversely impacted our operations in 2020 – Nigerian Breweries boss says
NB Plc’s operations in 2020 were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, VAT increase and FX devaluation.
The management of Nigeria’s leading brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc has revealed that its operations in 2020 were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, VAT increase, FX devaluation and scarcity of foreign exchange.
This statement was made by the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel, at the company’s pre-AGM media briefing for the financial year-end 2020, which held in Lagos this week.
He noted that the increase in the brewer’s cost in 2020 was due to the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted the company’s operations, as well as the increase in VAT, devaluation and FX scarcity which has put pressure on input cost.
READ: Alcoholic beverage makers on NSE lose a total N27.7 billion in a single day
The Nigerian Breweries boss explained further that the increase in cost could not be fully attributed to currency devaluation and foreign exchange scarcity.
He explained that the increase in costs of goods sold, as reported in its audited financial results, could also be linked to the increase in the volume of goods sold, as the company’s sales volume in 2020 increased by almost the same percentage as the cost of goods sold.
To deal with this challenge going forward, he revealed that the company is focused on the supply chain, and will continue to seek out ways to mitigate any of the price increases coming from FX scarcity.
READ: Brewery sector: A quarter to forget
The company’s profitability in question?
An analysis of the company’s result revealed that despite the 4.3% increase in net revenue from N323.00 billion recorded in 2019, to a total of N337.01 billion in 2020, the company’s profit declined significantly by 53.3% to N7.53 billion.
Speaking on this, Jordi Borrut in his statement at the press briefing noted that the brewer’s business performance in 2020 was quite impressive especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession. Despite these challenges, the company maintained a strong and healthy balance sheet.
“There was a slight reduction in profitability but compared to the previous year, the business witnessed an improved growth in revenue. The significance of this is that the business became more stable and healthier,” he said.
READ: Nigeria’s triangular beer war on the rise with the arrival of Budweiser
What you should know
- Nigerian breweries, being the largest brewer in the country, maintained its stance in terms of generating profits year-on-year. The company emerged as the only brewer to record a profit of N7.37 billion from its operations in 2020, 54.3% lower than 2019 figures (N16.1 billion).
- From this, the leading brewer was able to pay shareholders a total dividend of N7.5 billion, translating to a dividend of 94 kobos per share – a dividend payout in which exceeds 100%.
- While Guinness and International Breweries made a loss of N12.6 billion and N24.9 billion respectively, this reality impacted their ability to pay their shareholders dividends in 2020.
Business News
Highest paid Nigerian bank MD/CEOs of 2020
Bank MD/CEOs in Nigeria earned a combined N1.5 billion in salaries in 2020.
The banking sector, especially commercial banks, is one of the most profitable sectors of the Nigerian Economy churning out profits of close to a trillion in 2020 alone. They are also one of the highest employers of labours in the country employing over 93,000 Nigerians.
Sitting at the helm of affairs is the Chief Executive/Managing Director, the highest-ranking executive in the organization saddled with the responsibility of making the best corporate decisions, oversight of the execution of the organisation’s corporate strategies and most importantly increasing the shareholders’ return. The buck basically stops on their table.
Thus, these enormous responsibilities also come with a considerable executive compensation for their service making them ostensibly the highest-ranking staff of the bank.
READ: Jim Ovia: From a clerk to founder of Nigeria’s most profitable bank
In typical Nairametrics fashion, we bring to you a list of the highest-ranking bank CEOs for 2020 based on their executive compensation (exec comps). The bank MD/CEOs under our review earned over N1.5 billion in salaries in 2020.
The data was sourced from the published audited accounts of the bank and verified by Nairametrics Research.
