Twitter CEO Elon Musk has made a U-turn to settle for $8, for Twitter verification badge monthly fee.

As part of his plans after his takeover, Musk disclosed that it was essential for verified accounts to pay a verification fee, noting that it would defeat the number of scams and spam on the micro-blogging platform

While announcing it on Twitter, Elon Musk tweeted, “To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8. Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit”. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.

Reacting to this, a prominent fundraiser of the U.S Democratic Party, Jon Cooper responded to Musk tweet, saying “Elon, this negates the whole idea behind the blue checkmark, which verifies that an account is official or legitimate.

“Users can already pay $4.99/month to get the benefits of Twitter Blue — this would simply be “Enhanced Twitter Blue” for $8. That’s fine, if that’s your intent”.

Recall that Musk had earlier set the fee at $20 which received so many criticisms and backlash from users, with most of them stating that they won’t pay such an amount for the Blue tick, noting that it was unnecessary.

This however forced the Tesla CEO to reduce the fee to $8 per month. Musk however disclosed that the new fee of $8 would adjust prices by country proportionate to purchasing power parity, and would provide the micro-blogging platform a revenue stream to reward content creators.

Additionally, Musk disclosed that the new payment plan would include additional benefits for users, such as priority in replies, mentions & search, and the ability to post longer video/audio content and half as many ads, And also a paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with the company.

There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians.

After his Musk acquisition of Twitter, he has been looking for ways to monetize the platform as he said he needed to pay bills.

Meanwhile, in 2009, Twitter introduced the verification badge after it was slammed with a lawsuit for not doing enough to prevent the platform from imposters and parody accounts.

The platform has so far taken a benign approach to its many ‘parody accounts’, as majority of these accounts are created by agenda-driven mischief makers who are spreading damaging falsehoods.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has arrested a politician, Ismaila Yusuf Atumeyi with huge sums of illicit fund amounting to N326 million and $610,500 cash, days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) moved to redesign the naira notes, and has given Jan. 31 deadline for the old notes to be returned to the banks.

Atumeyi, who is a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) currently seeking to represent Ankpa 11 Constituency in Kogi State House of Assembly, was arrested on Sunday, alongside one Joshua Dominic, an alleged serial fraudster, in a sting operation at Macedonia Street, Queens Estate, Karsana, Gwarinpa, Abuja, according to a statement issued by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren.

The fund is said to be the proceeds of bank fraud that the suspect perpetrated in connivance with an ex banker. According to the EFCC, a former bank employee, Abdumalik Salau Femi, allegedly filled the suspects with the insider information that facilitated the successful bank hacking operation.

“He was picked up on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, at Radisson Blu Hotel in Lagos. Following his arrest, a search was conducted on his home in Morgan Estate, Ojodu where a total of $470,000 USD was recovered,” Uwujaren said.

The money is in addition to the $140,500 that was separately recovered from the second suspect by the EFCC.

According to Uwujaren, the arrest of the suspects followed months of investigation into the hacking of one of the commercial banks by a syndicate of fraudsters who pulled off a heist of N1.4 billion.

“The syndicate allegedly moved N887 million into the account of Fav Oil and Gas Limited, from where the monies were paid to several Bureau de Change operators and some auto dealers for exchange into United States Dollars and purchase of high-end cars.

“Dominic, who has severally been arrested for fraud, allegedly helped Atumeyi perfect the hacking plan through Abdumalik. Dominic, a self-styled investment expert and managing director of Brisk Capital Limited was arrested in May 2021 by the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police for alleged N2 billion investment scam. He allegedly defrauded over 500 persons in a phony investment scheme.

“Two Range Rover Luxury SUVs were also recovered from the two suspects arrested in Abuja,” a statement issued by the agency said.

The anti-graft agency said the suspects would be charged to court after the investigation.

The development has once again brought the plights of many Nigerian banks’ customers, who have lost their hard-earned money left in the care of the banks similar fraud incidents, to the spotlight. In most cases, the banks have been found denying every responsibility.

With the prevalence of cybercrimes in banks, the EFCC is concerned that the banks and other financial institutions are reluctant to report their cases to the relevant agencies when they happen.

The commission warned that such reticence would only embolden the criminals, appealing to financial institutions to collaborate with it to secure the financial sector from threats of cyber-attacks.

Nigerians say that they’re expecting more stories like this in the near future, due to the redesign of the naira notes. The EFCC has also warned Bureau De Change operators to be wary of those who would want to beat the CBN deadline by converting their ill-gotten fund stashed outside the banks to dollars.

There are many professions that make up the finance industry; many activities take place before the trader practices his art. There are even finance companies that do not employ a single trader. So, let’s explore the range of market finance professions with a few examples.

Example 1: Chamber of Commerce

The finance director of an aircraft manufacturer whose factories are located in the eurozone and whose customers pay in dollars wants to hedge against currency risk. So, thanks to the macroeconomic analyzes of the chamber economist, he contacts the seller in the trading room of his usual bank, who advises him on a hedge.

For a more complex transaction, the seller can use the services of financial engineers. The transaction agreed with the customer will be immediately released by an execution trader whose task is to place the order on the best terms.

Example 2: Registered Chamber of Commerce

Special account activities were introduced in the 1980s to improve their results. As such, proprietary traders are responsible for implementing strategies aimed at increasing the amounts entrusted to them by taking advantage of market inefficiencies.

These strategies are various, optional or quantitative. The development of ever more complex strategies has brought quantitative analysts to the forefront who are not limited to trading rooms for their own account.

Top traders have set up hedge funds where they execute their strategy for a client that often accepts less transparency, high liquidity risk, and generous commissions for ex-management traders.

Example 3: Management Company

A finance director wants to increase his company’s cash flow. For this, he contacts a portfolio management company and is immediately directed to a sales representative. Second, it establishes the risk and performance profile to which the client wishes to be exposed, as well as constraints along with the expectation.

The salesperson then makes the most appropriate recommendation for that particular cash investment. Finally, the financial director orders a subscription for the intermediary units.

It is the portfolio manager’s turn to intervene to place new subscriptions on selected investments. He is the person who gives orders for the assets of the portfolio entrusted to him.

For this he is usually assisted by an assistant manager who assists him on a daily basis while taking the job. The manager also regularly uses the services of internal analysts, known as buy-sides. A risk manager checks that the risks taken do not exceed internal or regulatory rules.

Management companies could not exist without custody banks. The assets of managed portfolios are invested in them.

Thus, it assures its owners the seriousness of the custody. Some alternative funds take securities held by the fund as collateral. It uses the services of a master broker to finance the leverage effect the funds use.

market finance definition

market finance valuation

market finance crunchbase

finance jobs salary

finance career paths

market finance uk

market finance linkedin

market finance address

Example 4: Front Office Support

All employees who place orders, follow up or participate in initiation belong to the front office, which manages relations with the outside world (markets and customers). Once an order has been released, it must be handled with the utmost care.

Those working in the middle office are responsible for controlling the risks taken by the front, calculating the results for each operator, and ensuring the smooth functioning of IT.

This includes personnel responsible for reporting and performance attribution.

In the back office, we can ensure proper execution, approval, reconciliation of orders, deliveries of securities, etc. work related to provision is carried out.

We should not forget the financial lawyers, who are usually attached to the general secretariat of the company. They make it possible to guarantee the prior regulatory compliance of many contracts necessary to deal with financial instruments.

Thus, they identify questionable clauses in deals and defend the interests of the company or its customers in the event of a dispute.

Example 5: Internal Control and Compliance

The profession has implemented stricter procedures than ever before to limit the risk and scope of occupational disasters to occur. This is how internal control services emerged. It was gradually expanded to include other risks such as conflicts of interest.

More generally, the controller, auditor or inspector participates in the development and verification of procedures.

They then verify that it was implemented correctly. The development of regulations regulating financial activities has also led to the emergence of compliance functions.

Example 6: Quantitative Research and IT Support 

The number of operations to manage no longer allows to keep track of everything on paper, as in many other industries. The figures considered require great care in the procedures and calculations to be made.

Therefore, skilled developers and quantifiers are especially sought after in the financial industry. Indeed, tools to value or model behavior require more complex calculations than ever before.

Dr. Yasam Ayavefe

Click the below links to view Dr. Yasam Ayavefe’s projects:

https://greenclimate.io/

Yasam Ayavefe

Milaya Capital