By Chinwendu Obienyi
The Board and Management of Accion Microfinance Bank (MfB) has said it will strengthen strategies toward deepening financial inclusion and empowering customers through traditional digital products and services.
The new Board Chairperson, Accion MfB, Adenike Laoye, gave this assurance to shareholders at the bank’s 17th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos recently. The shareholders had at the meeting approved the management’s 75 per cent increase in dividend payout for the financial year ended December 31, 2022.
This came after the board had recommended 0.35 kobo per share dividend on the issued and fully paid share capital of 1,207,407,700 ordinary shares of N1 each as against N0.20 per share paid in 2021.
Laoye stated that despite the harsh macroeconomic conditions, the bank’s gross earnings grew to N6.96 billion from N5.55 billion recorded in 2021, resulting in an increase of 25 per cent.
She noted that Accion MfB has continued to maintain a high level of integrity, professionalism and transparency in all its dealings and as a result, earned the trust and loyalty of its customers.
According to her, the bank has also leveraged new technologies, developed new products and services to ensure our core objective of making it easier for the people we serve to access financial support, much faster, and more convenient.
Whilst stating that it will continue with the implementation of its new business model focusing on improving operational efficiency and increased focus on digital transformation, Laoye revealed that the board and management are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead despite potential headwinds, stressing that the board remained resolute in delivering digital products and services to customers.
“As we navigate through this challenging economic period, we will continue to deliver on our promise to empower our various customers through both our traditional and digital products and services.
“To achieve this objective, we will focus on deepening financial inclusion by expanding our agency network and ensuring stability on our various digital channels,” she added.
Also speaking, the Managing Director/CEO, Accion MfB, Taiwo Joda, said “With the gradual rebound in economic activities both globally and locally, we navigated the challenging economic landscape successfully, identified the inherent opportunities, and implemented strategic initiatives that yielded significant improvements in customer experience, enhanced our growth prospects and delivered market share accretion and profitability during the year resulting in a better outing when compared to 2021.” On the 2023 outlook, he said the bank was putting plans to achieve its objectives for the year and the next financial year.
“Although, we experienced challenges mainly due to the recent CBN demonetisation policy on our clients and business, we are however putting everything in place to have a better outing in 2023 as we are focused on delivering on our set targets for the year”, Joda said.