Rand Softer Ahead of Local and Global rate Announcements

The rand was weaker against the Dollar late on Monday as local and global markets awaited further central bank interest-rate announcements this week.

 
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) was due to make its announcement on Tuesday, followed by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank and Bank of England’s (BoE’s) interest-rate decisions are due on Thursday.

At 3.27pm, the rand was at R15.3855 to the dollar from R15.2298 at Friday’s close. It was at R17.0976 against the euro from R16.9689 and R22.0777 against the pound from R21.8938.
The euro was at $1.1113 from $1.1145 previously.

#NoBankingDay – “Nigerians are Sick & Tired of Excessive Bank Charges & Bad Service”

Card Maintenance Fee, Token Fee, SMS Charges and the list goes on.

Nigerians are protesting excessive bank charges and mediocre service today with #NoBankingDay. The hashtag is now trending on Twitter and other social media with many vowing not to complete any bank transactions today as well as sharing stories of bad bank service.

Finance sector worries over rising rules violations

Stakeholders in the financial market have expressed dismay over the rate at which public companies violate extant rules of their respective regulators, thereby attracting heavy fines. According to a cross-section of key shareholders that spoke with Financial Vanguard, recklessness and carelessness on the part of companies’ chief executives that give rise to such penalties should be curtailed, or the board and management of such companies should either be sacked or be made to pay the fines instead of using shareholders’fund.

 

They said that shareholders bear the brunt of their carelessness as the company’s profit is reduced as a result and in effect lowers the dividends accruing to members of the company. Financial Vanguard investigation showed that, a total of N241.529 million was paid as fines by four banks — FCMB Group Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa (UBA) for flouting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directives in 2014 financial year alone.

Also, this year, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) fined 33 quoted companies N63.8 million. Their offence was reneging on their post-listing rules requirement in relation to timely submission of yearly and quarterly financial statements.

Investors advised to explore REITs as alternative real estate financing

 

 Investors in real estate and general infrastructure have been advised to leverage Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) as a viable alternative to traditional sources of project financing.