VenturesNow

Binance in talks with Nigerian govt over executive’s detention

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2024

Following the arrest of Binance’s head of financial crime compliance by Nigerian authorities last month, the company’s CEO said Thursday that the company was working very closely with Nigerian officials.

The trial against Tigran Gambaryan, the executive, and another Binance employee, who are accused of moving more than $35 million, had been put off until May 2 in Nigeria, the country’s anti-corruption body said on April 8.

“What I can say is we are working very closely with the Nigerian authorities to try to resolve the matter,” CEO Richard Teng said, speaking about Gambaryan’s case during the Token2049 crypto conference in Dubai.

Former executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British Kenyan who works as a regional manager for Africa, escaped detention in Nigeria last month. While in Nigeria, Anjarwalla and Gambaryan were arrested by the country’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), after arriving on February 26, after which the country banned several websites that traded cryptocurrencies.

Before they were arrested, the head of Nigeria’s central bank said that Binance was being investigated in Nigeria because of “suspicious flows” of cash through Binance Nigeria in 2023. The Securities and Trade Commission of the United States and other government agencies have susbsisting restrictions on bitcoin trade.

Besides the case brought by the EFCC, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria’s tax office, has also charged Binance and the executives with tax evasion.

Sacheendran declined to comment on the charges against the company but stressed that “This was a one-off. It’s never happened to us before”. The Binance head of regional markets told Reuters on the sidelines of the Dubai conference when asked about the detentions.

Additionally, Binance revealed on Thursday that it had obtained a license from VARA, Dubai’s regulatory body. This will enable the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange to target regular people in addition to qualified and institutional ones.

Bloomberg reported earlier Thursday, citing sources, that parts of VARA’s process to give the license included Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of Binance, giving up vote control of the Dubai unit.

“That’s pure speculation. Again, we don’t comment on media speculation… Our relationship, our dealings with regulators are confidential,” Teng told journalists.

VenturesNow

ExxonMobil ‘optimistic’ over Mozambique LNG project

Published

9 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to a company spokesman on Thursday, ExxonMobil is “optimistic and pushing forward” with its postponed Rovuma liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique and anticipates a final investment decision before the end of next year.

In offshore Area 4 in northern Mozambique, ExxonMobil and its partner Enivare are developing the Rovuma LNG project. Exxon is in charge of building and running the onshore liquefaction and associated facilities, while Eni is focused on the Coral floating LNG and upstream activities.

ExxonMobil was also impacted by the development of shared and common facilities, such as an LNG jetty and offloading facility when TotalEnergies declared force majeure in 2021 in response to an offensive by militants linked to the Islamic State that threatened its Area 1 Mozambique LNG project.

“We recognise there are challenges and there are. We recognise that those challenges can be overcome if we work together,” Arne Gibbs, general manager at ExxonMobil Mozambique, told an energy conference in Maputo.

“My message is quite simple … We are optimistic, we are pushing forward,” he said of a project expected to enter a front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase in a few months.
Originally planned for 15 million metric tons per year (mtpa), the project has been changed to a modern, electric, modular facility capable of producing 18 mtpa of LNG, which is more flexible and emits fewer harmful pollutants, according to Gibbs.

“It was important to change our design to a project that is ready-made, that is fit for purpose for the current business environment, including the attention to CO2 emissions and GHG (greenhouse gases),” he added.

Credit Agricole declared in March that it would not lend money to two significant LNG projects, including Rovuma, on the grounds that it had made a pledge to abstain from further fossil fuel ventures.

According to Gibbs, the business acknowledged that the intervention of a regional military force and Rwanda’s military assistance to Mozambique had resulted in a notable improvement in the security environment.

In February, Exxon announced that it was keeping an eye on security developments in the province of Cabo Delgado, where terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State have been launching new attacks this year.

VenturesNow

Nigeria’s Insurance Corporation raises maximum deposit coverage from N500k to N5m

Published

13 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The maximum deposit insurance coverage levels for Deposit Money Banks has been raised by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) on Thursday from N500,000 to N5 million.

At a news conference in Abuja, NDIC Managing Director Bello Hassan declared this effective immediately. He said, “For Deposit Money Banks, the increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N500,000 to N5,000,000, would provide full coverage of 98.98% of the total depositors compared with the current cover of 89.20%. Regarding the value of deposits covered, the revised coverage would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 25.37% compared with the current cover of 6.31% of the total value of deposits.

“The increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N200,000 to N2,000,000 would provide full coverage of 99.27% of the total depositors compared with the current level of 98.76% and would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 34.43% compared with 14.38% of the total value of deposit, currently covered.

“The increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N500,000 to N2,000,000 would provide full coverage of 99.34% of the total depositors compared with the current 97.98% and would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 21.04% compared with 10.77% of the total value of the deposit, currently covered.”

Additionally, Hassan said that increasing the maximum deposit insurance coverage for primary mortgage banks from N500,000 to N2,000,000 would cover all depositors, or 99.99% of them, and increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance from the current 40.60% cover to 43.10% of the total deposit value.

Additionally, the Corporation increased the maximum pass-through deposit insurance coverage for each Mobile Money Operator subscriber from N500,000 to N5,000,000.