NOVA Merchant Bank Records Profit in First Year of Operations

NOVA Merchant Bank Limited (NMBL), a newly licensed merchant bank with a focus on wholesale banking, investment banking and asset management recorded a profit of N510.58 million in its first year of operations.

The bank has been riding on a high level of productivity and cost-effectiveness in its activities, thus laying a strong foundation for its future success. According to its results for the first eight months of operations ended December 31, 2017, NMBL recorded gross earnings of N1.22 billion.

With a marked and strategic approach towards cost-savings and maximisation, the bank’s operating expenses stood at N743.39 million, while profit stood at N510.58 million. The bank ended the period with total assets of N17.99 billion, while the a shareholders’ funds stood at N16.51 billion.

Speaking on the results, the Chairman of NMBL, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, expressed satisfaction at the performance and commended the staff.

He said: “We have assembled a team of professionals and our building state of the art technology to drive our innovative products and services in realisation of our vision’To be Africa’s preferred financial solutions provider’ and our mission to ‘create superior value in the markets we serve.”

According to Oduoza, it is expected that the size of the bank’s balance sheet will provide a strong foundation to support the growth of its business and rapidly growing client base.

Speaking in the same vein, the Managing Director of NMBL, Chinedu Ikwudinma, noted that the performance was achieved by a commitment to the core values of the institution encapsulated by the acronym UPLIFT( Uniqueness, Passion, Leadership, Integrity, Fairness and Teamwork).

He said: “NOVA is positioned to bring transformative advantage to our customers in keeping with our vision ‘To be Africa’s preferred financial solutions provider”. We are deploying the systems, services and personnel to make this happen and are excited about the future we envision for ourselves and our clients.”

While also explaining the strategic direction of the bank, Ikwudinma said that NOVA would focus on wholesale banking by offering trade services, project financing, cash management, corporate solutions, advisory services.

He added that in the area of investment banking, the bank would be looking at mergers and acquisition, advisory services, securities and trading, wealth and asset management as well as debt and equity capital management.

Analysts expect this trend of performance to continue in 2018, saying the results showed impressive work based on the strong foundation which the company laid at the beginning of its operations which commenced last year.