Commercial banks and micro-lenders are now required to share a wide range of information on their customers, including records of dishonoured checks, compulsory closure of accounts and late payments or credit defaults on all types of facilities, according to the new rules published last week to facilitate the establishment of a reliable risk assessment system.

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has initiated a legal action before the Federal High Court in Lagos against four firms and their alter ego (promoter), Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, following the bank‘s claim that the defendants are owing it N22.55bn, Punch reported. The four firms are NICON Investment Limited, Global Fleet Oil and Gas Limited, Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation Plc, NICON Insurance Limited and Union Registrars Limited. The bank also joined the Corporate Affairs Commission as co-defendants to the suit. In an ex-parte application filed by its lawyer, Mr.

The Commercial Court has rejected an application by Aya Bakery to block being put under receivership and paying a sh2b arbitral award to Roko Construction, NewVision.co.ug reported. The head of the Commercial Court, Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire, ruled that Enoth Mugabi of Mugabi and Company Advocates, who was appointed receiver of the Aya Bakery, should, instead, immediately enter the premises and prepare a statement of affairs of the company and file his findings in court.

The Group of 20 is beginning to look more like the G19 plus 1 as emerging and rich countries alike accuse the United States of breaking a vow of unity, Reuters reported. This week's G20 summit will require every bit of President Barack Obama's diplomacy skills after the Federal Reserve embarked on a new $600 billion bond-buying spree, sparking criticism from four continents that the U.S. central bank was ignoring the global repercussions.

Kenya’s public pensions provider, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), risks losing a significant portion of its movable assets next week over a Sh663 million debt it owes a developer for breach of contract, Business Daily Africa reported. NSSF was left holding the multi-million shilling debt after it lost a legal tussle pitting it against a company it had contracted to build an estate in Nairobi’s upmarket Kitisuru area.

The Attorney-General has been directed to respond to a petition filed by the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) seeking to be bailed out of receivership, Business Daily Africa reported. Constitutional Court Judge Roselyn Wendoh on Wednesday told the State Law Office to file its replying affidavit within 14 days. Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Coffee Board of Kenya were also asked to respond within seven days upon being served by the AG. The parties involved in the dispute will return to court on November 3 to confirm compliance with the orders.

Youth unemployment across the world has climbed to a new high and is likely to climb further this year, a United Nations agency said Thursday, while warning of a “lost generation” as more young people give up the search for work, The New York Times reported. The agency, the International Labor Organization, said in a report that of some 620 million young people ages 15 to 24 in the work force, about 81 million were unemployed at the end of 2009 — the highest level in two decades of record-keeping by the organization, which is based in Geneva.

Two top Nigerian stock-exchange officials were removed and a fugitive former bank executive surrendered, as efforts to clean up the financial sector accelerate, The Wall Street Journal reported. On Thursday, Nigeria's Securities Exchange Commission named Emmanuel Ikazoboh, a former chief executive of accounting firm Deloitte in West and Central Africa, as interim stock-exchange head. The appointment comes a day after a shakeout at Nigeria's Stock Exchange, Africa's second largest.

Nigeria’s Security and Exchange Commission has instructed the nation’s bourse to remove Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke as director general and chief executive officer, Bloomberg reported. The move is among measures to address “inadequate oversight of the exchange, ongoing litigation, allegations of financial mismanagement, governance challenges, and the inordinate delays in the implementation of the succession plan,” the SEC said in an e-mailed statement.

Widescale corruption and fraud perpetuated by former Nigerian leaders has driven the state oil company into insolvency, local media Thursday reported the head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp saying, Platts reported. Austen Oniwon, NNPC group managing director, told lawmakers from the Senate on Wednesday in Abuja that some of the country's past leaders caused to be withdrawn the sum of Naira 1.5 trillion ($10 billion) from the NNPC treasury for various uses other than oil and gas projects, Punch newspaper reported.