Ikazoboh Upbeat about Ecobank’s Future
Goddy Egene
The Chairman of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh, has said shareholders of the pan-African institution should expect a bright future that will guarantee higher benefits for all stakeholders.
Ikazoboh stated this while speaking at a reception in Lagos for shareholders of the bank recently, describing Ecobank as the pride of Africa. Complimenting the bank’s staff, he said it is a pan-African institution with some of the best talents on the continent.
“Through our board, management and staff, we have an unparalleled passion and commitment to excel as a world-class financial institution,” he said.
According to Ikazoboh, the ETI Board of Directors continues to implement a strict 51-point corporate governance action plan approved by share- holders last year in compliance with the recommendations of a joint report by Nigeria’s Securities & Exchange Commission and professional services firm KPMG.
“We have substantially concluded much of this exercise, and whatever areas there are that are outstanding are receiving adequate attention,” Mr Ikazoboh said. “We expect to complete them as soon as possible.”
He added that the governance structure at the board of directors level was also being reviewed to produce an oversight architecture that would enable the board to be most effective in executing its oversight and reform agenda for ETI.
The chairman told the shareholders that between the 30th of June, 2014, when the present board of directors was inaugurated, to the 11th of May, 2015, their investment in the bank had seen appreciable growth as the share price increased from N16.89 to N23.27 within the period, representing a 37.8 percent increase.
“Cost efficiency with cost income ratio has gone down from over 70 percent a year ago to about 62.7 percent as at the first quarter of 2015 and is still going down. Our return on equity has improved markedly from 15 percent in 2014 to 19 percent in this first quarter and still increasing,” he said.
The chairman added that the group’s non-performing loan ratio had dropped to less than four percent, and that it intended to lay a solid balance-sheet foundation to ensure that it builds on this strong performance in a sustainable manner. He explained that the goal was to replicate as well as improve on this in the future. The Ikazoboh said that some key decisions had been made this year to sustain this performance on the capital appreciation side of shareholders’ equity portfolio.
The ETI chairman emphasised that the Ecobank Group would continue to be an independent pan- African institution owned by Africans and other investors who subscribe to the pan African ideals of the company. “The ETI board of directors is strongly determined that your bank be the star performer you have always envisioned it to be. We shall take some difficult decisions in the short-term but we are confident that these decisions will reap benefits in the immediate future,” he stressed.
Mr. Ikazoboh concluded his remarks by thanking the shareholders for their support, and urged them to continue offering that support in the Ecobank Group’s continued quest to be the Pan-African banking champion it was established to be.