Companies and group of individuals’ ambitious targets to raise funds through Crowdfunding the Nigerian financial markets are being inhibited by the restrictive provisions in the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 and Investment and Securities Act, 2007 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has disclosed.

Crowdfunding is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture using easy accessibility of vast networks of people through social media and crowdfunding websites to bring investors and entrepreneurs together.

Crowdfunding is very popularly in use in the United States (US), Europe and Asia to raise capital for various financial and non-financial projects. There are more than 1000 Crowdfunding portals worldwide supporting a multi-billion dollar industry. For instance global Crowdfunding hit $16.2 billion in the US in 2014. And given the tremendous growth in online platforms that has led to the success of online shopping portals in Nigeria, many fund seeking corporates and groups have shown interest to source for funds through Crowdfunding in the country.

However, the Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo said crowdfunding cannot be effective in Nigeria for now because of lack of rules and inhibitions in the provisions of CAMA and ISA.

Speaking in Lagos last week the SEC boss said while the commission is committed to deepening the nation’s capital market to meet the funding needs of corporates and grow the economy, the legal provisions are a big challenge.

“We are aware of the growing interests among Nigerians to use Crowdfunding to raise funds. However, that cannot materialise now given the legal challenges as a result of the provisions in CAMA and ISA. But we are looking for ways to go about it so that companies will enjoy the benefits of Crowdfunding in the country as well,” Gwarzo said.

According to him, SEC is looking at the Crowdfunding rules in US and Canada in order to ensure an enabling legal and regulatory framework that will support this massive global innovation.

SunTrust Bank will formally open for business today as it seeks to reshape the Nigerian banking space and the way consumers interface with their banks.

At its headquarters on Oladele Olashore street in Victoria Island Lagos, there is minimal security presence, no generator noise, bank customers who come in there will find a banking hall equipped with computer terminals for customers seeking a well secured computing link.

The banking hall is completely different, no kiosks or cashiers and it looks more like an airport lounge, signaling a total dependence on technology in its service offerings to the public.

According to Muhammed Jubrin, SunTrust Bank’s CEO, “our vision is to offer high quality retail and commercial banking services in a modern and innovative manner. We will use technology and a new way of thinking to provide banking services to many people and businesses in Nigeria for whom access to a bank account has previously been impossible.

“We will offer telephone, mobile and Internet banking underpinned by the traditional banking ethics of probity and integrity.”
The bank’s competitive edge will be the strong reliance on technology and the bank will be encouraging customers to access its services from the comfort of their homes and offices and as such the bank will not be engaging in a proliferation of branches.

“Our services will be available to our customers 24 hours daily, seven days a week and from anywhere in the world where there is a good Internet service.

“Even our data centre is outsourced, this way we will not have the overbearing requirement to put on the generator at our locations,” he explained.

By adopting a branchless strategy, SunTrust will save the N100m-N120M required to build a modern branch and the about N2.5m it costs to run the generators at a typical bank branch.

Customers of SunTrust will be encouraged to use any bank ATM because the bank will not be charging them the fee charged by other banks for using ATM machines belonging to other banks.

According to the CEO, “we will not be emphasising physical security as we are making serious investment in cyber security instead.”

SunTrust was licensed on September 15, 2015 as the first new commercial bank license given by the Central Bank in 15 years and its journey as a bank began in 2009. It commenced business on August 1, 2016.
“In the years to come, the developments at SunTrust should have far-reaching influence in the banking sector specifically and our nation generally,” says Jubrin.

Kangpe is the winner of Seedstars Lagos which held yesterday. It came on top of Davtonlearn, Tuteria, Legal Form, Piggybank.ng, Quickgas,  GRIT Systems, and Social Lender.

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Kangpe can also help you find and book an appointment with any Doctor/Specialist (i.e Gynaecologist, Cardiologist, Pediatrician, Dermatologist) across Nigeria in less than 5 working days.

South Africa’s economy has leapfrogged Nigeria’s as Africa’s largest in dollar terms, reclaiming the top spot it lost two years ago.

Both economies face recession after contracting this year. But while the South African rand has gained more than 16 per cent since the beginning of 2016, Nigeria’s naira has plunged by more than a third of its value.

At their respective exchange rates, Nigeria’s gross domestic product is $296 billion, while the size of South Africa’s economy is $301 billion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, quoting the International Monetary Fund figures at the end of 2015.

Nigeria’s GDP was in excess of $500 billion when the nation’s economy surpassed South Africa’s in April 2014.

That followed the recalculation of the GDP data by the former government of Goodluck Jonathan – the first time that happened in two decades.

Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, and the economy has shrunk by 0.4% since 2015 amid low oil prices and output and acute shortage of foreign currency.

Intel announced the purchase an AI startup. The computer chip giant will buy Nervana Systems to help its products meet the demands of artificial intelligence. AI work is expected to become increasingly important in data centers, where Intel processors dominate.