News headlines

Naira’s fall offset by NNPC dollar sales: The naira closed marginally lower on Thursday, inching down in late trade as importers bought dollars to meet year-end obligations. It closed at N163.10 per US dollar compared with N163.05 on Wednesday. Increased dollar inflows helped to check the decline of the naira. While state-owned energy firm NNPC sold about US$350m, dollar inflows from some foreign investors also helped to provide liquidity. (Source: Reuters)

Jonathan holds emergency talks on security: The Inspector-general of Police, Hafiz Ringim, disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan summoned his security chiefs for an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss a growing Islamist militant threat after Christmas Day bombs on churches and other targets. The attacks have raised fears that the militants are trying to ignite sectarian strife. Ringim suggested that security operations in the north east had led to several arrests and helped dislodge some militants from their hideouts. (Source: Reuters)

UBA gets shareholders' approval for holdco: Shareholders of United Bank for Africa (UBA) on Thursday approved plans to restructure into a financial services holding company (holdco). The approval, which was given by shareholders at a court-ordered meeting, will enable UBA to comply with the new licensing regime of the CBN. UBA will operate a new structure, whereby a non-operating company to be listed and known as UBA Holdings will become the parent company of three intermediate holding companies: United Bank for Africa, UBA Africa Holdings and UBA Capital Holdings. (Source: Thisday)

Operators prepare for Cash-lite in Lagos: As the January 1, 2012 take-off of the cash-lite economic system in Lagos draws closer, stakeholders, including banks and payment terminal service providers (PTSPs) licensed by the CBN, will spend an estimated N315bn (US$2.1bn) to deploy new automated teller machines (ATMs) and point-of-sale terminals (POS). Specifically, the banks will spend over N225bn on the deployment of 75,000 new ATMs, while the PTSPs may have to spend over N90bn to deploy 450,000 POS terminals across the country between now and 2015. (Source: Punch)