Agbaje, GTBank boss harps on digital, customerfocused approach for improved shareholder returns
SEGUN AG BAJE, MD/CEO Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. (GTBank) has said that in a bid to create more value for its stakeholders the bank will continue to drive its digitalfirst customer-centric strategy and expand its range of service offering whilst constantly differentiating itself by maintaining a high standard in service delivery and putting customers at the heart of everything the bank does.
Agbaje who was commenting on the recently released nine months (Q3) result of the firm also noted that the business environment in which the bank operates remains very challenging, however the result which shows positive performance across all financial indices, is “a reflection of how we have appropriately positioned our balance sheet to cope with economic realities.”
The unaudited financial results for the period ended September 30, 2018 released to the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges showed that gross earnings for the period grew by 8.8 percent to N337.3billion from N309.9billion reported in September 2017.
Profit before tax stood at N164.2billion, representing a growth of 9.5 percent over N150.0billion recorded in the corresponding period of September 2017. The Bank’s Loan Book dipped by 12.3 percent from N1.449trillion recorded as at December 2017 to N1.270trillion in September 2018, while customers’ deposit grew by 8.6 percent to N2.239trillion from N2.062trillion in December 2017.
The Bank’s balance sheet remained resilient with total assets and shareholders’ funds closing at N3.433trillion and N534.3Billion respectively, a 2.4 percent growth from total asset position of N3.351trillion as at December 2017, Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) however dipped by 300 basis points to 22 percent despite the impact of IFRS 9 implementation.
In terms of Assets quality, NPL ratio and Cost of Risk (COR) improved to 5.6 percent and 0.1 percent in September 2018 from 7.8 percent and 0.5 percent position in December 2017 respectively.
Complementing the improvement noted in NPLs and COR, the bank noted that it maintained adequate Loan Loss coverage of 180.6 percent for lifetime Credit Impaired Loans (NPLs).
On the backdrop of this result, Post- Tax Return on Equity (ROE) closed at 32.7 percent while Return on Assets (ROA) stood at 5.6 percent.
Overall, GTBank tops the Nigerian banking industry in terms of all financial ratios i.e.
Post-Tax Return on Equity (ROE) of 32.7 percent, Post-Tax Return on Assets (ROA) of 5.6 percent, Cost to Income ratio of 38.3 percent and PBT margin of 48.7 percent, testifying to experienced management, efficient balance sheet structure coupled with operational efficiency of the bank.