Access Bank Plc has concluded the integration of its online trading platform, AccessTrade, with e-Form Portal, which was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria in conjunction with Nigerian Customs Service and the Webb Fontaine Consortium.
The Executive Director, Financial Markets Division, Access Bank, Mr. Ebenezer Olufowose, on Thursday in Lagos, said the move was part of its strategic initiatives to support the growth and development of the Nigerian economy.
“We have integrated our AccessTrade platform with the e-form portal so that transactions initiated by customers on AccessTrade are fed into the e-form M portal,” Olufowose said.
According to him, the bank’s AccessTrade platform enables customers to initiate and execute online trade transactions across the globe anytime of the day irrespective of time zone differences.
Director of Trade and Exchange, CBN, Mr. Batari Musa, said, “This is a welcome development and other banks should take a cue from what Access Bank has done today. This is to ensure that the project enjoy a seamless transition with little or no challenges.”
The initiative has so far shown remarkable results with the pilot scheme, as its use of tax identification number makes the process fool-proof.
Form M is the most significant document in foreign exchange transactions for importers. Before now, it was done manually, with attendant time wastages, while some had to duplicate the form or travel to Abuja to obtain it.
Deputy Comptroller (ICT), Nigeria Customs Service Mr. Ambrose Ukuwegbu, said that the contract of the scanning companies to assess the value of imported goods and to issue risk assessment reports on the quality and value of imported goods was meant to expire at the end of 2012.
He, however, said that the Customs was well positioned to take over the role in addition to its current role of assessing the import duty to be paid by importers.
“The portal is to be enhanced further and integrated into the electronic platform banks already use to remit collected import duty to the CBN accounts of the NCS,” Ukuwegbu said.
Meanwhile, trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed on a negative note on Monday, as the NSE All-Share Index fell by 0.7 per cent from 33,183.20 points to close at 32,947.13 basis points.
Source: Punch (By Ademola Alawiye)
