Financial Services
AFREXIMBANK disburses US$200 million to Zenith Bank
The fund is designed to support and stabilize the foreign exchange resources of African countries.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), has disbursed $200 million to Zenith Bank Plc Nigeria, in a bid to support critical imports under emergency conditions, and maintain foreign currency trade flows impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This disclosure was made on Friday, in a press release by the multilateral financial institution.
The disbursement, made under its Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA), is in line with the Pan-African Bank’s mandate of financing, and promoting intra-and extra-African trade.
PATIMFA is a 3-year medium-term facility, set up in March 2020 to support and stabilize the foreign exchange resources of Afreximbank member countries, to enable them support critical imports under emergency conditions.
The financing from this facility is accessed via direct funding, to assist Afreximbank member countries to adjust in an orderly manner to the financial, economic, and health services shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The President of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, remarked that the bank is pleased to keep supporting Nigeria’s largest bank by tier-1 capital, with recovery from the effects of COVID-19.
“The role banks such as Zenith Bank play in Africa is huge, and supporting them to carry out their mandate is the group’s greatest contribution to making sure that African countries and institutions build back better from the shocks of the pandemic”
Zenith Bank’s Group Managing Director, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said that this gesture, “undoubtedly underscores the confidence reposed in Zenith Bank.”
He reiterated that the facility will enable the bank to contribute to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic by providing trade finance and foreign currency funding for the importation of urgent medical equipment, and raw materials.
About Afreximbank
The African Export-Import Bank was established in October 1993, with its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. It is owned by African governments, the African Development Bank, and other African multilateral financial institutions, as well as African and non-African public and private investors.
The bank has disbursed more than US$31billion between 2016 and 2019.
Previous Facility created to support member countries
Afreximbank, has a history of providing support to African economies in times of economic crisis. During the 2015 economic crisis, it introduced a Counter-Cyclical Trade Liquidity Facility, under which it disbursed more than $10 billion on a revolving basis, to enable member countries to adjust to the adverse economic shocks.
The financial strength of Afreximbank
At the end of 2019, the Bank’s total assets and guarantees stood at USD$15.5 billion, and its shareholders’ funds amounted to US$2.8 billion.
Afreximbank has disbursed more than US$3.5 billion under PATIMFA. In addition, the Bank provided a grant of US$3 million towards the COVID-19 Special Fund – set up by the African Union, as well as to the African Center for Disease Control and other agencies.
Afreximbank has ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A-), Moody’s (Baa1) and Fitch (BBB-).
Business
#EndSARS: We were not hacked – CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria has dismissed rumours that its website was hacked by hacker group, Anonymous.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debunked rumours that its website was hacked. This was disclosed via its official Twitter handle in the early hours of today.
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The apex bank assured the Nigerian public that there was no cause for alarm and it would do everything within its statutory power to protect its proprietary data from being breached.
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CBN Website Not Hacked pic.twitter.com/nZFdabmARo
— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) October 16, 2020
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The press release concluded by advising the Nigerian public to ignore such false claims, designed at undermining the credibility of the CBN.
Backstory
Nigerians were shocked yesterday when the website of the CBN was temporarily off the grid, leaving many to suspect that it may have been hacked. Recall that Anonymous, an international hackers group, had earlier claimed via its Twitter handle, that it breached some Nigerian government websites.
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The act is said to be in support of the ongoing #EndSARS protests that have taken over many cities in Nigeria, following calls for the disbandment of the notorious police unit – FSARS.
Financial Services
Stanbic IBTC retains Fitch’s AAA Rating
Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC were rated high based on the potential support from their parent company, Standard Bank Group.
Globally renowned credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings, has reaffirmed that Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and its subsidiary, Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, have retained their National Long-Term’ AAA (nga)’ and National Short-Term’ F1+(nga)’ ratings.
Fitch Ratings is a leading provider of credit ratings, commentary and research for global markets. The National Long-Term’ AAA (nga)’ and National Short-Term’ F1+(nga)’ Ratings are the highest possible ratings on Fitch’s rating scale.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC were rated high based on the potential support from their parent company, Standard Bank Group, which is based in South Africa.
According to Fitch Ratings, both organisations retained their ratings as a result of the vital role they play in Standard Bank Group’s primary operations in West Africa as well as its size and high operational integration.
“The National Long-Term Ratings on Stanbic IBTC Bank’s N30 billion senior unsecured notes and the National Long- and Short-Term Ratings on the N150 billion structured note programme for senior unsecured debt are in line with the Bank’s issuer ratings,” Fitch says.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC is a subsidiary of the Standard Bank Group. Its principal operating entity is Stanbic IBTC Bank, a mid-tier commercial bank, which represented 96 per cent of the holding company’s consolidated assets at the end of 2019.
Both entities are highly integrated with Standard Bank Group’s risk-management framework with access to Standard Bank Group’s competitive advantages relative to peers. This also includes connectivity to its network and the ability to serve large domestic and multinational companies.
The ‘AAA (nga)’ is given to issuers with the lowest expectation of default risk when compared with their competitors. The National Short-Term Rating of ‘F1+(nga)’ is assigned to issuers that have the strongest capacity for timely payment of financial commitments in comparison to other issuers in Nigeria
Cryptocurrency
Crypto: Popular Hedge Fund, Grayscale record best quarter ever
Grayscale Investments has had impressive growth after registering its third consecutive record-breaking quarter.
Popular American based hedge fund, Grayscale Investments, has had impressive growth after registering its third consecutive record-breaking quarter with more than a billion inflows recorded.
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Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Investments product remained the most widely selected investment product. Grayscale Investments in its most recent report for Q3 2020 report, total investments into the digital asset managers fund in those three months alone accounted for more than a billion dollars. Adding Q1, Q2, which were also record-breaking at their respective time, the year-to-date inflows surged to $2.4 billion.
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Just for comparing our massive, the recent feat is, Grayscale had received $1.2 billion s2013 to 2019. This makes the year to date for 2020 inflows twice as much.
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What you must know; Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Among Fastest Growing Investment Products: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust experienced $719.3 million in 3Q20 inflows.
- The Trust has seen its assets under management (“AUM”) surge from $1.9 billion to $4.7 billion YTD.
- Grayscale Bitcoin Trust does not operate a redemption program and its shares do not trade on a national securities exchange.
- Trust is therefore not an ETP or ETF. Still, if the Trust were compared to global ETPs and ETFs with over $1B AUM at the start of the year, it would rank as the third-fastest growing product YTD with an AUM increase of approximately 147%.
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Backstory
Recall Nairametrics about five months ago, revealed how institutional investors and hedge funds around the world have been rushing to have a stake in crypto assets which all have been outperforming other financial assets in 2020.
A popular hedge fund based in New York –Grayscale Investments –caught the investment world by surprise by buying up Bitcoin (BTC) at a great rate in recent months.
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What you need to know about Hedge Funds; They are firms that offer alternative investments to a specific type of investors (high net worth individuals), in a bid to protect their investment portfolios from market uncertainty, while generating positive returns regardless of market sentiments.
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