Relief As Bank COT Is Slashed By 40%

After years of groaning by banks’ customers over arbitrary charges on cost of transactions (COT), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has concluded plans to peg the transaction cost at N3 for every N1,000 transacted.
Part of the clause is that the new COT regime will be a flexible one that must not exceed 3 per cent. Sources at the Central Bank said customers can negotiate COT charges between zero and 3 per cent, so that what customers will pay depends upon their negotiating power.
Before now, transaction cost was officially N5 for every N1,000 transacted. This means that, officially, the Central Bank will effectively reduce cost by 40 per cent for banks’ customers. But the snag before now was that banks never adhered to the formerly stipulated N5 for every N1,000 transacted.
Most of the banks contacted could only agree that they had been compliant with the N5 for every N1,000 transacted. But most customers said they had not been aware of what had been charged them as COT.
Amid fears over the willingness of banks to comply with the proposed transaction cost, analysts said it would be great relief to bank customers who had been taken to the cleaners by banks, mostly because of their ignorance.
Central Bank spokesman Ugochukwu Okorafor said the policy will not discourage the cashless policy because of lower cost of transacting business, adding that infrastructure were being built to encourage the cashless policy.
Bismarck Rewane, chief executive officer of Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited, told LEADERSHIP in a telephone interview that the move by the apex bank was a good development. In some developed climes, he said, there is nothing like COT and the banks still survive.
Rewane said the move would ensure banking transactions were cheaper and more people wouldprobably embrace banking.
He also said that the reduction and pegging of COT would force banks to become more efficient as they would devise other ways of making profits.
Samir Gadio, an analyst with Standard Bank, London, told LEADERSHIP in an e-mail: “We see this development as a positive step and a complement to the policy of cashless banking implemented by the CBN.”
He said although the COT charges do not represent a sizeable portion of non-interest income in the banking system, they tend to somewhat constrain the non-cash flow of money in the system.
“Besides, there is certainly a conceptual point here since banks should maximise profit not so much by imposing charges (or even playing the differential between deposit rates and T-bill yields) in an ideal world, but by lending more actively to the productive sectors of the economy, SMEs and the retail market,” said Gadio.
John Okolo, an analyst in Lagos, said the move would boost the Central Bank’s inclusive policy as more people would open accounts and the number of transactions would go up.
Wale Abe, chief executive of Financial Market Dealers Association of Nigeria (FMDA), said the customers would be better off, as they would save more money from doing business with banks.
Abe said the new policy would be as useful to customers as much as they would be able to negotiate with banks on the COT charges.
Justus Okwe, another analyst in Lagos, said the reduction in cost of transaction would boost the cash-lite policy of the Central Bank. According to him, when the cost of e-payment transaction is low, more people will embrace electronic banking.

Leadership

Dirty Politics Behind Rumours Of My London Arrest – Mrs Ajimobi

Wife of the Oyo State Governor Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, has attributed the rumour of her purported arrest in London, United Kingdom, to the handiwork of mischief makers who are playing dirty politics to tarnish her reputation, which she has kept as the wife of a politician in her over 30 years of marriage.
Speaking on arrival from London yesterday morning at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos aboard a Virgin Atlantic aircraft, which landed at 6.50am, she described as laughable the rumour of her arrest, affirming that she only travelled last Sunday to London to accompany her child, who returned to secondary school.
Mrs. Ajimobi said she was not surprised over the capacity of people to peddle rumour as part of the renowned dirty politics of Oyo State, saying, however, that the true test of any human being is ability to stand firm in times of crisis and controversy.

Leadership

Jonathan Lacks Political Will To Fight Corruption – CPC

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) yesterday reacted to the statement of President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday on the fight against corruption which involved some governors and subsidy thieves.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP, the National Publicity Secretary, Engr Rotimi Fashakin, said President Jonathan lacked the political will to tackle the menace.
He said, “As a party, we strongly believe that President Jonathan lacks the necessary power to break the inertia of the fight against corruption. Everything about his regime is personification of opacity and corruption.”
The statement also accused the Jonathan-led government of corrupting the electoral process, alleging that governors loyal to this administration win election irrespective of their political parties.   Jonathan’s government was also berated for bastardising national honours.
“His (Jonathan) government has corrupted the electoral process to the extent that it is only governors that have the president’s nod that win elections irrespective of their political parties. His government has driven the final nail in the bastardisation of the national honours regime. His regime specialises in official cover-up. It is a huge ruse because the leopard is incapable of changing its spots. It is another spin from the Jonathan regime.”

The Leadership

Children With Brain Injuries May Likely Become Criminals

Young people who sustain brain injuries are more likely to commit crimes and end up in prison, new research suggests.
Injuries caused by trauma to the head can cause maturing brains to ‘misfire’, affecting judgement and the ability to control impulses.
The study, from the University of Exeter, calls for greater monitoring and treatment to prevent later problems.
Its findings echo a separate report by the Children’s Commissioner for England on the impact of injuries on maturing brains and the social consequences.
In the new report, Repairing Shattered Lives, Professor Huw Williams from the University of Exeter’s Centre for Clinical Neuropsychology Research, describes traumatic brain injury as a ‘silent epidemic.’
It is said to occur most frequently among children and young people who have fallen over or been playing sport, as well as those involved in fights or road accidents.
The consequences can include loss of memory, with the report citing international research which indicates the level of brain injuries among offenders is much higher than in the general population.
A survey of 200 adult male prisoners in Britain found 60 per cent claimed to have suffered a head injury, the report notes.
It also acknowledges there may be underlying risk factors for brain injury and offending behaviour but says improving treatment and introducing screening for young offenders would deliver significant benefits in terms of reducing crime and saving public money.
Professor Williams said: ‘The young brain, being a work in progress, is prone to “risk taking”. And so it is more vulnerable to getting injured in the first place, and suffering subtle to more severe problems in attention, concentration and managing one’s mood and behaviour.’
He added that brain injury is rarely considered by criminal justice professionals when assessing the rehabilitative needs of an offender.
“Yet brain injury has been shown to be a condition that may increase the risk of offending, and it is also a strong “marker” for other key factors that indicate risk for offending,” he said.
The report from the Children’s Commissioner is based on a review of futher published evidence from the University of Exeter and the University of Birmingham.
It says a large number of young people in custody in England tend to have a significant degree of neurodevelopmental disorders compared to the general population.
This could lead to communication and learning difficulties and emotional and behavioural problems, it says.
Many young offenders are said to have a reading age below that of criminal responsibility, which is aged 10 in England and Wales.
Maggie Atkinson said, “Our failure to identify [these] disorders and put in place measures to prevent young people with such conditions from offending is a tragedy.
“It affects the victims of their crimes, the children themselves, their families, the services seeking to change offenders” lives for the better, and wider society.
“Although children who have neurodevelopmental disorders and/or who have suffered brain injuries may know the difference between right and wrong, they may not understand the consequences of their actions, the processes they then go through in courts or custody, nor have the means to address their behaviour to avoid reoffending.”
—Dailymail London

FBI and San Diego Sheriff’s Department seek public’s assistance to identify Chase Bank Robber

The FBI and San Diego Sheriff’s Department are seeking the public’s assistance to identify the unknown male responsible for robbing the Chase Bank branch located at 1100 Palm Avenue, Imperial Beach, California, on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.

On Tuesday, October 30, 2012, at approximately 11:00 a.m., a Chase Bank branch located at 1100 Palm Avenue, Imperial Beach, California, was robbed by an unknown male using a demand note. At the time of the robbery, the robber approached the victim teller and presented a demand note for cash. The robber also threatened to have a weapon. Fearing for his/her safety, the victim teller provided the robber a sum of money. The robber left the bank on foot. No injuries were reported and no weapon observed.

Witnesses describe the robber as follows:

• Sex: Male
• Race: Hispanic
• Age: Approximately 20 years old
• Eyes: Unknown
• Hair: Short/shaved head
• Height: Approximately 6’0” tall
• Weight: Approximately 170—180 lbs.
• Clothing: Gray hooded jacket with zipper, white t-shirt, plastic framed sunglasses with dark brown lenses, white tennis shoes, and black baseball cap

Bank surveillance photographs from the robbery of the Chase Bank branch located at 1100 Palm Avenue, Imperial Beach, California, on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 are above.

Anyone with information concerning this robbery is asked to contact the FBI at (858) 565-1255; (877) EZ-2TELL; or San.diego@ic.fbi.gov, and/or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. You may remain anonymous by calling the FBI or Crime Stoppers.