Mr Georgios Sotiropoulos was been appointed to the Board as Executive Director, Supply Chain 22nd March 2018. Mr Sotiropoulos has his Masters in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
He has served the Pz Cussons Group in different countries at different positions including being the Managing Director, PZ Cussons East Africa, Kenya in 2006, General Manager, PZ Cussons China, in 1998, President, PZ Cussons, Indonesia and he is currently the Managing Director, PZ Cussons Africa Supply Chain.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this on Wednesday during a news conference in Enugu.
Oloyede said he had no reason whatsoever to withhold the results of the UTME.
“The result ought to be out by now, but because I am not at the headquarters and I do not want to approve it while on the field.
The registrar said his team was at the Southeast to access what was going on with the conduct of the examinations as well as to visit the new University in Ebonyi.
He noted that JAMB registered 1,415,501 candidates in the UTME 2021 and 1,122, 095 had taken the examinations so far while 66,111 had yet to take.
According to him, the board has some 650 examination centres across the country, out of which, 30 centers have been delisted for performing below standard.
“53 centres are currently under watch while 600 of them performed excellently.
“It is our wish and desire that the board will continue to ensure that such non-performing centres with ulterior motive will not be allowed to participate in the exercise,” he said.
Oloyede explained that the use of the National Identity Number (NIN) as directed by the federal government helped to reduce examination malpractice during the examinations.
“We were talking about the bogus 2.2 million candidates, but it has become clearer that more than 500,000 of such number are fake and duplicated.
“And we were able to detect this through NIN and now we have a realistic number of JAMB candidates,” the registrar said.
The examination body boss frowned at the activities of some elements to sabotage the exercise, but they were all caught due to the system put in place.
He added that those students who visited a particular centre but could not write the examination would be rescheduled and a new date fixed.
“Apart from registration fee, we did not collect any other money from candidates, but some pay as far as N25,000 to some elements to help them.
“Even some parents were paying N1,000 to somebody who did not finish primary six to help their children, but they will surely pay for it because we will delist them,” he said.
The registrar noted that the security situation in the Southeast was not as media and social media projected it.
“I came here myself with four directors and nothing has happened to us.
“I want to commend the media for their criticism and support which made 2021 UTME successful,” Oloyede said.
This was disclosed via a press statement signed by the President of the association, Femi Oyewale on Tuesday evening.
Brand Spur Nigeria understands that the emergence of King Brutus as Patron of Nigeria’s foremost online association NAOSRE will further harmonize stakeholders’ engagement in the diaspora.
King Brutus, who hails from Edo State is the Chief Executive Officer of NAS Autos. The philanthropist, whose foundation has placed most elderly people on salary and free health care within the IBILE community in Nigeria, is happily married with children.
Handing his official letter of nomination to him at his Royal River Palace, Royce Road Bryanston, Johannesburg, Femi Oyewale, who is currently in South Africa on the first leg of a global media tour, remarked that King Butrus’ acceptance would position NAOSRE for its effective media campaign for a safer Nigeria and the entire Africa Continent.
Accepting the nomination, King Brutus gave assurance of his commitment to anything that would promote Nigeria as a destination of choice for investors adding that security is key in achieving that dream.
King Brutus will be joining the likes of Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, ret’d, immediate past Chief of Nigerian Army Staff now Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic Benin, Ned Nwoko, a lawyer and businessman who are already Grand Patrons of the association.
King Brutus is expected to strengthen the association’s quality advisory enclave for its continental security and safety media campaigns in the diaspora.
Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), one of the world’s largest suppliers of ingredients* from almonds to black pepper, has published sustainability targets to tackle the biggest challenges in the global cashew supply chain, starting with farmer livelihoods.
Cashew farmers are among the poorest in the world. Most are smallholders in rural areas across Africa and Asia and cannot always grow enough to feed their families, afford much-needed healthcare or send their children to school. OFI, which has directly supported over 50,000 cashew farmers over the last decade, hopes to change this and encourage others in the sector to collaborate for measurable change.
The Cashew Trailstrategy sets 2030 targets across OFI’s cashew business – in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals1 and OFI’s commitment to deliver naturally good, sustainable ingredients. These include ambitious goals to fight poverty by increasing average yields by 50% and helping 250,000 cashew households to improve their livelihoods. Along with economic opportunity, Cashew Trail includes commitments around health, education, diversity and climate to ensure that by 2030:
100% of own processing volumes are traceable to farmer group-level
250,000 cashew households benefit from improved livelihoods through training and access to inputs like fertiliser
100% of children from cashew communities for directly sourced volumes benefit from investments into education infrastructure
30% of farmers in directly sourced cashew communities are women
50% reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission intensity in OFI cashew supply chains
OFI is making these goals real by innovating its approach to sustainability – providing customers with a pathway to drive tangible change in farming communities. This innovation is both practical, like using data to deliver training tailored to individual farmers, and disruptive, like Olam Direct, which reaches farmers further afield, giving them access to the latest market prices, and the ability to negotiate directly rather than through traditional buying agents, thereby retaining more value for their crop.
Progress on Cashew Trail will be reported annually, tracked and supported by data from 100+ economic, social and environmental metrics on Olam’s sustainability insights platform AtSource, including carbon, water and land use footprinting which can be used by customers in their own sustainability programmes and consumer communications. This includes measuring impacts in OFI’s cashew processing facilities located in both Asia and Africa. Currently most of the global processing for cashew nuts takes place in Asia. OFI seeks to boost job creation and reduce emissions through transportation of the raw nut by increasing the processing in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
Ashok Krishen, Managing Director and CEO of the OFI nuts-Brand Spur Nigeria
Ashok Krishen, Managing Director and CEO of the OFI nuts business, said:
“One of the greatest impacts we can have as a business is to help farmers earn a living income and help protect the environment that nurtures their trees and communities. We’ve worked with customers and partners for over a decade to make the cashew supply chain fairer, stronger and more sustainable, but cashew farmers are still struggling for survival. This is especially true right now with many reporting even lower incomes and lesser food for their daily survival than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The good news is that with plant-based products becoming more popular – where cashew isn’t just for a Trail Mix but is now used to make vegan butter, milk and cheese – there is greater opportunity for awareness and impact across the nuts value chain. Consumers want to know that when they buy these products, they are supporting a supply chain where farmers earn more, communities are supported and the natural world is protected, from the farm right through to our customers’ factory gates. These new goals, the first of their kind in the sector, will drive positive impact, today and tomorrow.”
Shekhar, CEO of OFI-Brand Spur Nigeria
A. Shekhar, CEO of OFI, said:“OFI is focused on providing ingredients that are right for the producer, the consumer and the planet. This means sharing specific goals and targets with our customers, whether they are food brands, foodservice outlets, or retailers and grocery chains. To this end, we have launched public strategies for cocoa, coffee and now cashew – three of the most challenging supply chains for a whole range of issues, especially the poverty of the farmers who toil hard to bring these products to our homes.”
“We started on this journey many years ago and realise that it is still a long and tough road ahead. We will share our progress transparently through the sustainability insights platform AtSource, from which customers can track and use the data in their own consumer marketing and sustainability programmes. For those customers relying on a variety of nuts in growing end-use categories such as bakery confectionery and plant-based milks, we will soon be launching our public targets for hazelnuts and almonds so we continually reinforce our ability to supply great-tasting ingredients that also create sustainable impact across these supply chains.”
The Sustainable Nut Initiative2 added:
“We share this goal to create sustainable supply chains, improve the livelihoods and conditions of farmers and workers, and help the sector to flourish. Increased transparency and traceability are essential to making this a reality, so we welcome the publication of a clear roadmap and targets by OFI and encourage others in the sector to do the same. To achieve a sustainable future for cashew, we need all nut supply chain actors to come together and show a shared commitment to sustainability.”
Unlimint and Discover signed a strategic agreement that increases the global acceptance of the footprint for Discover Global Network and furthers Unlimint’s goal to help businesses worldwide be “ready for tomorrow”.
This alliance enhances Unlimint’s strategy to expand the number of payment options available to their clients worldwide and provides more choices to consumers on how they want to pay. The agreement will benefit Unlimint customers by increasing the number of payment options available and provide them the ability to accept payment from Discover Global Network Cardholders from around the world.
Discover Global Network Cardholders, on the other hand, will have the opportunity to shop with an array of online international merchants across 3 continents – Europe, Asia and Africa.
“As the fastest growing global payments network1, Discover is a major player in the payments world. With 60% of shoppers apprehensive to go back to stores due to new spikes in Covid-19, allowing our clients to provide Discover Global Network cards as a payment option is a must if we intend on supporting them in their journey to global expansion and growth,” said Kirill Evstratov, CEO at Unlimint.
“This is especially an important step for our clients in Asia and South America, as those are the leading regions with the most share of customers that shopped online in 2020. We pride ourselves in taking our mission to offer global availability very seriously and always look to expand our payment methods portfolio, so that merchants can offer localized options for selling to their customers.”
“By working with Discover, we enrich our cooperation with international payment schemes and are better positioned to serve our customers – offering them a more comprehensive payment solution under one roof for international payments and allowing them to serve a broader range of customers,” added Robert Ang, Unlimint’s General Manager for APAC. “Our strong digital focused customer base will also allow Discover to extend their product offering globally”.
“The partnership between Unlimint and Discover will expand our digital acceptance footprint in Asia Pacific and globally, opening new avenues for us to collaborate and honour consumer choice. It will also drive greater benefits to merchants by offering our cardholders across the world more options in how and where they pay online and in-app,” said Jonathon Gould, Regional Managing Director, Global Acceptance, the Asia Pacific at Discover. “As more merchants embrace e-commerce in their growth strategy and further pivot to digital amidst the global pandemic, we are committed to working with our acquiring partners to expand our payment acceptance, both in person and online.”
Discover Global Network has over 50 million merchant acceptance locations and two million ATM and cash access locations across more than 200 countries and territories. Discover Global Network includes Discover Network, Diners Club International, PULSE and more than 20 alliance partner networks across the globe.
Last year was anything but typical, however. Instead of shrinking, global financial wealth soared, rising 8.3% over the course of 2020 to reach an all-time high of $250 trillion.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) disclosed this in its recently released report titled, Global Wealth 2021: When Clients Take the Lead. Behind the boom was a spike in net new savings and strong stock market performance fueled by highly supportive central banks.
North America dominates, with wealth managers, WMs in the region has generated $150 billion in revenues in 2020, nearly two-thirds (64%) of the global total ($235 billion.) Western Europe remains firmly entrenched in second place ($43 billion in revenues, 18%), and Asia comes in a distant third, at $28 billion (12%).
Absolute HNWI Investable Assets and Revenue Growth, 2020–2025
Sources: Global Wealth Report 2021; BCG global wealth market sizing and benchmarking database.
The report noted that “over the next five years, North America and Asia (excluding Japan) will be the leading financial wealth generators in absolute terms, followed by Western Europe. Together, these three regions will account for 87% of new financial wealth growth worldwide between now and 2025.
Of the $65 trillion in global financial wealth that we expect to see generated over this period, $25 trillion will come from North America, $22 trillion from Asia, and $10 trillion from Western Europe. The remaining regions of the world will have only a marginal impact on new wealth generation, especially when viewed individually.”
Nevertheless, Asia, which has the largest concentration of wealth in real assets ($84 trillion, 64% of the regional total) will see financial asset growth exceed real asset growth (7.9% versus 6.7%) in coming years. In particular, investment funds in the region will become the fastest-growing financial asset class, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.6% through 2025.
In the report, BCG identifies two attractive markets for wealth managers. One consists of individuals with simple investment needs and financial wealth between $100,000 and $3 million. This “simple-needs segment” comprises 331 million individuals worldwide, holds $59 trillion in investable wealth and has the potential to contribute $118 billion to the global wealth revenue pool.
Anna Zakrzewski, a BCG Managing Director and partner, global leader of the firm’s wealth management segment, and a co-author of the report said,
“Wealth managers often underserve those in the simple-needs segment with a standardized set of products, and the result is a poor client experience with no “wow” factor. This is essentially a missed opportunity. To better serve this key segment, wealth managers must embrace a new approach that lets them reach a larger audience in a cost-effective and scalable way, but with a highly personalized offering.”
Retirees, one of the world’s fastest-growing demographics, are another appealing market. Many are underserved and adversely impacted by the “advisory gap ”that prevails during the retirement phase of life. Today, individuals over 65 own $29.3 trillion in financial assets accessible to wealth managers.
That figure will grow at a CAGR of close to 7% over the next five years, enabling wealth managers globally to target nearly $41.1 trillion in financial wealth by 2025. By 2050, 1.5 billion people globally will fall into the 65+ category, representing an enormous source of wealth.
In addition to the simple-needs and retirees segments, the “ultra” wealth category—individuals whose personal wealth exceeds $100 million—expanded in2020, with 6000 people joining the 60,000-strong cohort, which has seen year-on-year growth of 9% since 2015. The category currently holds a combined $22 trillion in investable wealth, 15% of the world’s total.
According to the report, China is on track to overtake the US as the country with the largest concentration of ultras by the end of the decade. If investable wealth continues to rise there at its current annual rate of 13%, China will host $10.4 trillion in ultra assets by 2029, more than any other market in the world. The US will be close behind, with a forecasted total of $9.9 trillion in such wealth by 2029.
The faces of the ultras are changing too, with the rise of the next-generation segment. These individuals, between 20 and 50 years of age, have longer investment horizons, a greater appetite for risk, and often a desire to use their wealth to create positive social impact as well as earn solid returns. Many wealth managers are not yet ready to serve these new ultras.
“High-growth markets represent a massive opportunity, but wealth managers must build a genuine understanding of local differences and also key demographic changes,” said BCG’s Zakrzewski. “For example, women now account for 12% of ultras, most of whom are based in the US, Germany, and China.
The next-gen segment is also going to be an influential driver of future growth in the next decade or so. Whether it’s a simple-needs or ultra-high-net-worth client, managers need to offer a personalized service in order to effectively capture the next wave of growth.”
Cash and deposits grew by 10.6% over the previous year’s numbers, marking the largest annual increase in 20 years. Markets shrugged off early jitters and sent many indices and equities to record highs by the year’s end.
Flush with cash and encouraged by the prospect of robust returns, individuals directed more wealth into equities and investment funds and away from lower-yielding debt securities, continuing precrisis trends.
Many also embraced alternative investments such as private equity, private debt, and real estate in the quest for even higher yields. The next five years may be stronger still. We see signs of an emerging economic recovery that could significantly expand prosperity and wealth between now and 2025.
This growth will create extraordinary opportunities for wealth managers (WMs), but it will require them to look at the market through a new set of lenses.
FCMB’s b3 BCA reflects its high asset risks driven by its high single-name and sector concentrations, and its modest profitability compared with those of its top-tier domestic peers. These challenges are moderated by the bank’s stable retail deposit-based funding structure as well as good local currency liquidity buffers.
The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 14 June 2021 in which Moody’s reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers.
The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody’s practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.
This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future. Credit ratings and outlook/review status cannot be changed in a portfolio review and hence are not impacted by this announcement.
Fidelity’s b3 BCA reflects the bank’s vulnerability to high asset risks due to its large proportion of foreign currency-denominated loans, a relatively tighter funding profile as reflected by its high loans-to-deposit ratio, and moderate profitability compared to its domestic peers. These challenges are moderated by the bank’s satisfactory capitalization.
The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 14 June 2021 in which Moody’s reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers.
The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody’s practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.
This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future. Credit ratings and outlook/review status cannot be changed in a portfolio review and hence are not impacted by this announcement.
The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 14 June 2021 in which Moody’s reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers.
Adesola Adeduntan | Brand Spur Nigeria
The US-based rating agency stated that First Bank of Nigeria Limited’s (First Bank) B2 long-term deposit ratings incorporate a one-notch uplift of government support from its b3 baseline credit assessment (BCA).
First Bank’s BCA reflects its reducing but still-high asset risk and modest capital buffers compared to its peers as well as the bank’s stable deposit-based funding profile and a high stock of liquidity assets.
The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody’s practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.
Moody’s noted that its view of the creditworthiness of First Bank is based on FBN Holdings Plc’s (FBNH) public financial statements.
…After successfully listing its US$350 million Sustainability Bond on the LSE
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the Lomé based parent company of the Ecobank Group was hosted today by the London Stock Exchange for a market opening virtual ceremony to celebrate the successful listing of the Tier 2 Sustainability Notes on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) main market. This represents the first-ever Tier 2 Sustainability Notes by a financial institution in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This Tier 2 issuance is the first to have a Basel III-compliant 10NC5 structure outside of South Africa in 144A/RegS format and is now listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The bond, which matures in June 2031, has a call option in June 2026 and was issued with a coupon of 8.75% with interest payable semi-annually in arrears.
An equivalent amount of the net proceeds from the notes will be used by ETI to finance or re-finance, new or existing eligible assets as described in ETI’s Sustainable Finance Framework, available at https://bit.ly/3j4xrlb on which DNV issued a Second Party Opinion.
Investor interest for this Sophomore Eurobond issue was global, including United Kingdom, United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, achieving a 3.6x oversubscribed orderbook, of over US$1.3 billion at its peak.
Ade Ayeyemi, Group Chief Executive Officer of ETI, stated: “The strong global interest in our issuance reflects investors’ confidence in Ecobank’s strategy and our commitment to sustainable financing. We thank the LSE for hosting ETI today and look forward to value creation for all our stakeholders. ”.
The Joint Lead Managers & Bookrunners in the transaction were Citi, Mashreq, Renaissance Capital and Standard Chartered Bank.
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