RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. –

Two men were in custody in Riverside County Monday accused of skimming debit and credit card information from Chase customers using a device they attached to the automated teller machine in Rancho Mirage, a police sergeant said.

Timothy Vaughn, 43, of Cerritos, and Jonathan Aguilar, 32, of Hesperia were booked at the Indio jail on suspicion of of burglary, theft of credit information, conspiracy and identity theft.

Rancho Mirage police investigators went to the bank and started watching it Sunday after someone reported what appeared to be a skimming device on the ATM machine, Sgt. Andrew Nielsen said.

About 2:20 p.m. two men, who had been seen at the bank several times that day, were seen returning to the bank and removed a device from the ATM, Nielsen said.
When Vaughn and Aguilar got into a car, they were arressted, he said.

“Investigators located items consistent with a skimming scheme whereby the credit card/ATM card account information could be stolen by the suspects,” Neilsen said.
Police were working with the bank to identify the customers whose accounts could have been compromised.

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FINA Bank is set to install seven more Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to ease the long queues evident at its banking halls across the country.

The country’s leading SME lender has this year installed three mobile ATMs in different locations across Kigali. However, upon the installation of the projected machines, this would bring the total number of ATMs to 22.

“With the amazing growth of the Rwandan economy today, the need for efficient financial services has steadily developed but it has to be improved also. Fina Bank aims to partner with businesses and individuals to facilitate this growth, and ensure prosperity for its clients,” FINA Bank’s Head of Marketing, Albert Akimanzi told Business Times.

Akimanzi said to realise this objective, it has engaged in innovative ways to help customers achieve their financial goals particularly through the expansion of ATM access.

“Fina Bank intends to maintain its expansion plans to reach customers around the country, but also to simultaneously provide value-added services,” he explained.

“Mobile ATMs offer convenience to customers and provide banking services well beyond the traditional banking most Rwandans are accustomed to. But with manuals and visual assistance at our ATM’s, the utilisation of these services has become easier.

Mobile ATMs are portable teller machines which can be placed anywhere or ferried by a vehicle.

Akimanzi explained that the bank has decided to first install the machines shoppers and travellers can be easily accessed. .

The lender had other ATMs installed at some of its branches including the main branch Kigali, Remera, Ngoma, Kigali City Market, Nyabugogo, Rubavu, Musanze, Petite Barriere Gisenyi, Karongi, Muhanga, Ruhango.

Last year, FINA recorded a 98.9 per cent increase in profits before tax for the year ending 2011, attributing this to cost effective management.

Its profit before tax grew from Rwf553 million ($926,298 million) in 2010, to Rwf1.1 billion ($1.8 million), the year ended December 2011.

They target to post Rwf1.5 billion ($2.5 million) profits before tax to this year.

(1888PressRelease) April 26, 2012 – DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The world’s most heavily-enrolled Islamic finance certification program became a little bit more accessible to the world today. Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance, now training over 20,000 bankers and students in 44 countries, lowered prices by nearly 50% for all residents of developing countries.

What motivated the bold move? “We noticed that with Ethica’s growing popularity, we were having to turn away many highly motivated professionals and students,” said Ethica’s spokesperson in a recent statement. “We think subsidized pricing helps spread the message of Islamic finance, especially in the wake of the global financial crisis, while the world rethinks its relationship with conventional, interest-based finance.” Ethica has as many as 20 times more students than most of its competitors, with paying users in more than 100 banks, universities, law firms, and insurance companies.

Ethica’s e-learning platform enables banks to train thousands of staff across branches while giving HR centralized control. The platform also allows universities to incorporate practical Islamic finance knowledge into existing on-campus programs. Ethica’s 4-month Certified Islamic Finance Executive (CIFE) program is the only 100% online and 100% AAOIFI-compliant certificate available in the market today. AAOIFI is the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, the industry’s leading standard-setting body and the de facto standard for over 90% of the world’s jurisdictions.

The new subsidized price list for developing countries can be found at http://www.ethicainstitute.com/special_pricing.aspx

About Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance

Winner of “Best Islamic Finance Qualification” at the 2011 Global Islamic Finance Awards, Ethica (http://www.EthicaInstitute.com) is chosen by more professionals and students for Islamic finance certification than any other organization in the world. With over 20,000 paying users in 44 countries, the Dubai-based institute is accredited by leading scholars and serves banks, universities, and professionals across over 100 organizations. To watch an Ethica training video click here http://bit.ly/FCWhyIF. For more information about this article, or to schedule an interview with Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance, please call Sameer Hasan at +971-4-455-8690 or e-mail at info ( @ ) ethicainstitute dot com dot

SOURCE Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance

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(1888PressRelease) April 19, 2012 – The Managing Director of GTBank, Mr. Segun Agbaje, who disclosed at an interaction with journalists in Lagos, noted that the entry into the Francophone region was in line with new focus on developing off-shore banking franchise, following divestment from its non-banking subsidiaries.

The bank completed its Anglophone West Africa expansion in 2009 with GTBank Liberia. It also has its subsidiaries in Ghana, Gambia and Sierra Leone.
Agbaje said that as part of efforts to extend its quality services to more customers, GTBank has established 22 electronic branches with the target to hit 76 e-branches at the end of 2012.

Apart from the e-branches, he disclosed that the bank would open 10 new full branches in 2012.

According to him, in 2007, GTBank had a strategic plan that by 2012, it would be the number one bank in Nigeria, in terms of profit before tax and return on equity/profitability, maintain cost to income stability through unparalleled efficiency and expand leadership position across West Africa.

He said that GTBank was on course in meeting those goals.
The bank posted N52.653 billion profit after tax (PAT) for the year ended December 2011, which is “the highest PAT so far posted by any bank.”

Agbaje said that the high profitability was achieved through a concerted effort to improve efficiency, expenses control and growth in customer base.

He noted that concerted efforts were made by the management to improve efficiency, in an increasingly competitive operating environment. According to him, the bank witnessed growth across all revenue lines.

“Increase in interest income was driven by growth in interest income from a larger loan book despite increased competition in the high-end banking space. Growth in income from investments in government securities was enhanced by return to positive interest rates. Growth income from interbank placements was achieved because GTBank remained a net placer in the interbank market in 2011,” he said.
Agbaje said that as the bank continued to record improve results over the years, GTBank ensured that shareholders were adequately rewarded, hence the recommendation of final dividend of 85 kobo for the year. Having paid an interim dividend of 25 kobo before, shareholders would be getting total dividend of N1.10 per share for the year.

He added that GTBank’s commitment to the growth of the Nigerian economy led to the allocation of 22 per cent of the loan portfolio to the manufacturing sector in 2011.

GTBank’s loans and advances in 2011 stood at N716 billion, indicating that about N158 billion, which is 22 per cent, went to the manufacturing sector.

He said that despite the high level of loans and advances, there was a robust strategy in place to ensure high credit quality.
According to bank’s non-performing loans (NPL) dropped from 6.7 per cent in 2010 to 3.7 per cent in 2011.
Source: Kunle Aderinokun and Goddy Egene, Thisday live

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