Nigerian Banks, Stockbrokers, And Services For Nigerians Abroad

Nigerian Banks, Stockbrokers, and Services for Nigerians Abroad

I think a thread that addresses issues peculiar to Nigerians abroad is due. We could exchange information and share ideas and experiences here. I have been out of Nigeria for a while but have been tuned in recently because of the Stockmarket.

For Bank accounts, go with UBA NRN, accounts designed for Non Resident Nigerians. I opened the accounts early this year (savings, current, and domiciliary accounts) and all my correspondence has been by email. I complete documents, scan, and email them as attachments. My relationship officer has been very responsive and professional.
http://www.ubaplc.com/newubaplc/defaultNRN.asp

I recently applied for Diamond Bank's account for Non Resident Nigerians called Diamond Reach. I funded the account on Thursday so I cannot comment on their service but so far they have been responsive and professional. My expectation is if UBA, an old generation bank can be as good as I have experienced, Diamond Bank, a new generation bank would match or do better.
http://www.diamondbank.com/metadot/index.pl?iid=5347

Skye bank also has a product for non resident Nigerians but I haven't used it. It is called Skye Global Account.
http://www.skyebankng.com/skye_products.php?id=global

As for a Stockbroker, I am with Vetiva and so far they have been exceptional compared to the complaints I have seen posted on Nairaland and StockmarketNigeria. They are professional and responsive but require N1 million or $8000 to open an account. I was hesitant at first but my experience with other brokers made me pay up for better service.

I will post more later but hope this helps.

Thanks akininNC.

Yes, some brokers have domiciliary accounts in Nigeria to which you can wire the funds to.
Vetiva has a domiciliary account with Diamond Bank in Nigeria but the best part is you wire the money to Citi Bank in the US which then transfers the money to Diamond Bank in Nigeria, so you pay the domestic wire fee, not the foreign wire fee. For me this is paying $20 instead of $40 per wire. The exchange rate Vetiva uses has been the official rate and it has been good so far, no other charges. I have been doing this without issue.

BGL has something similar with Access Bank routing through Citi bank. I recommend you check with your broker.

For Cashcraft that does not utilize this facility because of “exorbitant charges”, in their words, I have had to use my UBA Account to do an online transfer to Cashcraft’s UBA account, then email the cyber receipt to Cashcraft as proof of the deposit. I just did this for the Union Diagnostics Private Placement.

Well,UBA  may be good and smooth but i want you to be carefull of their rough edges.I have accounts with them as well they are even my brokers.Hence their exorbitant and unnecessary charges is what i don't like.For instance giving an instruction to them to transfer cash from one uba account to the other which i believe shouldnt attract charges they do charge.Or paying into your account from another city or withdrawing from another city in Nigeria. To me this is outrageous,where i live here it is not the case i hope people will say i shouldnt compare but i want you to know that there is nothing ABN AMRO is doing that uba cannot do.

I know you can start a 100k acct with cashcraft, even less

@Chokit, you are correct about the charges, they are quite aggravating and they cannot produce a list of charges so one is informed beforehand. So far though, the convenience has outweighed the nuisance. I will check about the charges for transferring from one UBA account to another and even third party UBA accounts, I don't think they have been charging me. I do this myself online and it has been very convenient. Hopefully as more players enter this space the charges will disappear, Skye is waving charges if you maintain a minimum balance.

I finally got a response from Cashcraft's customer service today on how to get money to them from the US for the Union Diagnostics private placement. A little late now that the private placement is closed but just incase anyone needs it in future, see below. It is missing the ABA number for Deutsche Bank though.

Ecobank Nigeria PLC Remittance Instruction

FOR USD INFLOWS

(By Order Party)
    Mr. XYZ

(Intermediary Bank)
   BKTRUS33
   Deutsche Bank Trust Company America
   60 Wall Street
   New York, NY 10005

(Beneficiary's Bank)
   ACCOUNT NUMBER : 04087350
   ACCOUNT NAME :Ecobank Nigeria PLC

(Beneficiary / Customer)
   59:/AC No.  ---------------------------
   Name of Ecobank Customer -:Cashcraft Asset Management Ltd
Account Number: -1110216626

(Beneficiary Information)
   70:/Being payment for --------------------------------------------

Minimum is 1 million naira and it can be in cash or shares.

This is my first post here but have been reading them regularly. I have the UBA NRN since this year and I use Afrinvest, ARM discovery funds, IBTC funds. So far, UBA is okay but their COT, and other charges na wa!but they seem at  the time to be the only place to let me send money to someone without a UBA account online. I have because of their charges not funded the dorm account and savings which they keep bothering me to do. Personally, I wished GTB has a diaspora offering as they seem to be the best customer service bank from experiences my spouse has had banking with them from here (usa). I have transferred funds to all the above without incident. Afrinvest so far alright, always could do with more prompt executions.
The situation might improve with the broker recapitalizations as the bank affiliated ones will hopefully offer a one stop seamless shop for everything. Hope to hear more of other peoples experiences like diamond, oceanic, fidelity, phb all have diaspora products.

NBN,

I am currently trying to tie up a deal with Vevita, but I am still trying to compare their charges. I hope they don't charge too extravagant.(Broker fees)


Thanks

i think its 2.4% to buy and 2.7% to sell

Thanks Nicholas

UBA ACCOUNT CHARGES

Here is what I got from UBA.

Current account: COT (commission on turn over) charge of N5 per mille i.e. per N1000 plus VAT, monthly maintenance fee of N105 and debit interest charge, only applies when account is in debit.

Savings account: Usually does not attract charges, however, deposits of N50 000.00 and above attracts a charge of N5 per N1000.

Domiciliary account: Upon withdrawal from the account, a charge of 0.5% of amount plus VAT

Hi All,

Thanks for all the useful information. Has anyone used African Select - www.africanselect.com they claim to be able to help you buy shares in the African stock markets. I opened an account with them placed my order and and tried to contact them, neither the USA telephone number nor the email went through.
I also had an issue with the terms of the Cashcraft account included in their package. It seems to imply that I sign up to a credit arrangement that allows them buy share to the tune of 50%  of my portfolio value and I had to pay for the cost within 30days at their stipulated interest rate. To that equated to compound credit = compounding debt. Was I being paranoid ?

NBA,
if you don't mind i will like you to give a link to the source of your findings i will like to mail him with my queries.Do you know that the staff in the branches are so difficult to deal with,because they don't pick call and even reply mails send to them.

Sure, I will send an email to my account officer introducing you. I will Cc you.

MoneyGram versus Western Union

What has been your experience?

I have used MoneyGram since last year and their rate has been quite good. For the 10 minute Dollar Service to Nigeria, $500 or less costs $9.99. The other party gets the money in US dollars with proper identification and a secret question and answer verification.