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Zenith Bank rewards customers with massive giveaways in the “Zenith Beta Life” weekly promo
The Promo is open to existing and new Zenith Bank customers.
Zenith Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading financial institution, has commenced its “Zenith Beta Life” Promo to reward customers of the Bank with gifts every week starting from 31st July 2020 to 30th July 2021.
During this period, fifty (50) customers will be selected via raffle draw each week and rewarded with gifts worth NGN30,000.
The Promo is open to existing and new Zenith Bank customers with the following raffle qualifying criteria:
- maintain a minimum deposit of NGN5,000 for the period;
- request and collect a Zenith Bank Card; and
- download and register on the Zenith Mobile App or register for *966# EazyBanking.
Zenith Bank Plc is recognised as one of the most customer-focused financial institutions in the country and was voted the most customer-focused bank in Nigeria for the retail and SME segments in the 2018 KPMG Annual Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey (BICSS).
A clear leader in the digital space with several firsts in the deployment of innovative products, solutions and an assortment of alternative channels that ensure convenience, speed and safety of transactions, Zenith Bank has clearly distinguished itself in the Nigerian financial services industry through superior service quality, unique customer experience and sound financial indices.
In recognition of its track record of excellent performance, Zenith Bank was voted as the Best Commercial Bank in Nigeria 2019 by the World Finance and the Best Digital Bank in Nigeria 2019 by Agusto and Co. The Bank was also recognised as Bank of the Year and Best in Retail Banking at the 2019 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards.
More recently, the Bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria, for the third consecutive year, in the Banker Magazine “Top 500 Banking Brands 2020”, number one Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital in the “2020 Top 1000 World Banks” Ranking published by The Banker Magazine, Best Bank in Nigeria 2020 in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards 2020, and Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020.
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FCMB sustains new strengths in Q2
FCMB closed the half-year operations in June 2020 with an after-tax profit of N9.7 billion.
The addition of new strengths and retention of some key capabilities of the preceding year constitutes the operating advantage for the bank this year. It is maintaining the elevated revenue outlook seen in the first quarter, which is happening for the first time since 2017.
Both interest and non-interest incomes are contributing to revenue improvement but non-interest earnings keep leading the way. Against a drop of 11 percent in 2019, non-interest income grew by 13 percent year-on-year at half-year ended June 2020.
Interest income is still accelerating from 4 percent at the end of last year to 8 percent at half-year though slowing down from 15 percent growth in the first quarter. This remains the highest growth rate in interest income for the bank at any time since 2014.
The good behavior of interest expenses seen in the first quarter improved to better in the second quarter. From a moderated growth of 4 percent in the first quarter, interest expenses proceeded to a 3 percent decline year-on-year at half-year. Accelerating interest income and a decline in interest expenses enabled an increase of 17 percent in net interest income from less than 5 percent improvement at the end of 2019.
This marks the first reasonable improvement in revenue the bank is seeing since 2017. Last year ended with only a 2 percent increase in gross income to a little over N181 billion. Revenue growth at half-year represents the highest in four years.
The retained strength in revenue is keeping the bottom line on the upbeat at which the bank began the year in the first quarter. Profit improvement remains quite good at 29 percent year-on-year for FCMB at half-year – still one of the best growth records in the banking sector. This is an accelerating growth from the 16 percent profit improvement at the end of 2019.
The ability to convert revenue into profit improved both on a year-on-year basis and from the 2019 closing mark. At the end of half-year, the net profit margin stretched out from 8.4 percent in the same period last year and from 9.5 percent at the end of 2019 to 10 percent. This is a step back however from 11 percent in the first quarter but yet remains the highest net profit margin for the bank since 2015.
The bank’s operating strength for the 2020 financial year is anchored on growing revenue and improving profit margin. The strength to grow profit more than two and a half times as fast as revenue at half-year points to a reasonable cost saving achieved by management. This came from a decline in interest expenses and a moderated operating cost during the period.
The loss in the first quarter of a key strength of last year – which is a drop in net loan impairment expenses for the third straight year, remained in place at half-year. Loan loss expenses rose by close to 41 percent to N7.8 billion at the end of June 2020. The increase follows an increase of 13 percent in the loan portfolio last year and by another 10 percent over the first half of the current financial year to N795 billion.
Half-year operations ended with gross earnings of slightly over N98 billion for FCMB, an accelerated growth from 2.3 percent at the end of 2019 to 9 percent year-on-year. This marks the first reasonable improvement in revenue since 2017.
An improvement of 8 percent in interest income to over N76 billion is one of the new strengths for FCMB in 2020. This reflects the expansion of earning assets with loans and advances growing by N80 billion over the 2019 closing figure of N715 billion and investments rising by N60 billion to N300 billion over the same period. The second is a rebound in non-interest earnings that were a drag for the bank last year to N22 billion at the end of half-year.
At slightly N30.8 billion, interest expenses improved further its disciplined behavior – declining by 3 percent against an increase of 4 percent in the first quarter. The share of interest income devoted to interest expenses went down from 45 percent to 40 percent over the review period. The result is an increase of 17 percent in net interest income to over N45 billion at half-year.
FCMB closed the half-year operations in June 2020 with an after-tax profit of N9.7 billion, an increase of 29 percent year-on-year. The bank is maintaining the path of growing profit for the third consecutive year since it lost 40 percent of profit in 2017.
Earnings per share amounted to 49 kobo at the end of half-year operations, improving from 38 kobo per share in the same period last year.
The ability to maintain an elevated performance in earnings through the economic lockdown in the second quarter is a bullish point for FCMB going forward to the second half. The bank is expected to retain the key strengths of growing revenue, moderating interest expenses, and improving profit margin to stay the course of rebuilding profit for the third straight year in 2020.
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CCI Traders launches MT5 with ECN
MT5 is a modern and advanced trading platform with more trading tools for traders.
MT5 is one of the most popular trading platforms and CCI believes that it is important to make such technology available.
According to Finance Magnates website, CCI Trading LLC has just launched an Electronic Communication Network (ECN) with MT5 trading platform. The move was made to help provide the group’s growing client base with a platform that is more flexible, ultra-modern, and innovative.
The Most Diverse Audience to Date at FMLS 2020 – Where Finance Meets Innovation.
ECN is by far most traders’ choice of trading systems in the industry for many reasons. This includes transparency, flexibility, automatic matching, and execution of orders, direct market liquidity with banks, and other big institutions and so many more benefits.
Moreover, ECN solutions also ensure traders’ access to Tier-1 liquidity providers while connecting them with other traders and big institutions across the globe. This eliminates the presence of a middleman, but promotes transparency, real market prices, visible bid and ask, and much more.
Speaking on the launch, the company’s Media and Communications Manager, Precious Sammy noted that MT5 is a modern and advanced trading platform with more trading tools for traders. She said the company understands the importance of giving its esteemed clients access to more flexibility and impeccable trading experience, pointing out that traders with CCI can now take advantage of this cutting-edge technology for better trading experience.
MT5 is no doubt one of the most popular trading platforms and CCI believes that it is important to make such technology available to its traders to enhance their trading experience.
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Opera launches Opera For Business and announces new partnership with Google My Business
The new offering will help 40 million small and medium-sized businesses in Nigeria improve their online presence.
Opera Limited (NASDAQ: OPRA), one of the world’s major browser providers and leader in AI-driven content delivery, is extending its offering to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
In 2019 Opera launched OLeads, a lead generation platform, and OList, an online marketplace for local merchants. Today hundreds of thousands of local merchants and businesses have already been onboarded and remain active on these platforms, allowing them to establish an online presence and connect with the quickly growing internet user base in the country.
With an internet penetration rate of roughly 47% in Nigeria, the internet is a perfect space for Nigerian businesses to grow and connect with customers across the country. Today, with Opera’s comprehensive new offering, this is becoming even easier.
Opera enters partnership with Google My Business for easier onboarding of SMEs into Google Search and Maps
Google My Business is a scalable tool that helps businesses and organizations manage their online presence across Google properties, including Google Search and Google Maps. If you add your information and verify it in your business profile on Google, you can both help customers find your business and tell your story.
Opera is a brand used and loved by more than 125 million people across the African continent. Now that Opera has become a verified Google My Business partner, it’s even easier for local businesses to enter the Google ecosystem. With Opera’s help, the verification of a given business’s profile is faster and business owners are able to get an extended online presence across Google’s popular services and interact with their customers.
In connection with their Google My Business partnership, Opera is also extending its value proposition by launching Opera for Business. This expansive platform not only connects businesses with their customers via OLeads, OList and Opera Ads, but also through Google My Business and a tailored set of digital marketing and advertising services which include Google Ads.
“We’ve been working closely with Google for more than 15 years. Needless to say, we are excited about this next step in our collaboration in Nigeria and beyond. Nigeria is currently undergoing a rapid digital transformation and we are thrilled to be part of it by providing local businesses with the most comprehensive tools to date, allowing them to enter the online space and reach a wider audience,” said Per Wetterdal, EVP Commercial at Opera.
Opera for Business empowers SMEs with an overall digital strategy
Opera for Business is an expansion of the company’s existing portfolio of products and services supporting small and medium enterprises. Beyond helping them enter and leverage the online ecosystem by establishing their digital presence on OLeads or OList and instantly connecting them to Google My Business, Opera for Business also features a rich set of digital marketing and advertising services such as online profile management, review management services, social media management, couponing and promotional tools, as well as a tailored set of advertising services across Opera, Google and Facebook inventories. This broad offering makes Opera for Business the go-to platform for businesses and merchants that wish to leverage the entire digital ecosystem to grow their businesses and make them thrive.
Accelerating the digital transformation of Africa
Opera has significant ambitions for accelerating the digital transformation of the African region. The company currently has a user base of more than 125 million people in Africa, out of its 360 million global user base. This includes use of the popular Opera Mini browser, Opera browser, and the standalone news application Opera News.
Opera has set new growth plans in Africa by expanding its product portfolio beyond mobile applications and introducing new innovative online marketing platforms such as Opera Ads, OLeads and OList. With this strategy now expanded through a partnership with Google My Business, Opera plans to continue leading the digital shift in Africa and maximizing the visibility of millions of African businesses online.
Companies who are interested in exploring Opera for Business can do so by sending an email to [email protected].
About Opera
Opera is a global web innovator. Opera’s browsers, news products and fintech solutions are the trusted choice of more than 360 million people worldwide. Opera is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (OPRA). In 2019, Opera’s PC user base grew 11 percent and has continued to see increasing engagement with 73 million MAU ((Average Monthly Users “MAU”) in March 2020.
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