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Chinwendu Obienyi
Given the uninspiring macro-economic story of Nigeria, financial institutions have not had it good in terms of their stocks on the equities front. But it appears to be that they are finding much luck elsewhere, in their audited financial statements as in the first nine months of 2019, seven out of 24 banks in Nigeria earned about N627.68 billion more than what they achieved in the same period last year.
These banks include Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) and Zenith Bank Plc.
According to the results released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s (NSE)s website, Access Bank Plc generated N210.21 billion in net interest income as at the period ended September 2019, representing a 70.98 per cent increase compared to the nine months period of 2018 when the bank recorded N122.94 billion.
The bank’s profit before tax increased by 46.74 per cent from N70.26 billion in 2018 to N103.10 billion in 2019 while its profit after tax rose by 44.2 per cent to N90.73 billion for the nine-month period of 2019, compared to N62.91 billion recorded at the end of the nine months period for 2018. The bank also recorded N2.18 as earnings per share as at the end of the third quarter of 2018 compared to N2.79 as at the end of the third quarter of 2019.
Fidelity Bank Plc for its part posted a strong double-digit growth in revenues, deposits and profitability as its gross earnings grew by 16.3 per cent to N161.4 billion from N138.7 billion reported in the same period in 2018 whilst profit before tax soared by 14.7 per cent from N20.1 billion to N23.0 billion.
In other indices, total assets grew by 14.6 per cent to N1.97 billion from N1.72 billion in the same period last year while total deposits which represents a measure of customer confidence, increased by 14.0 per cent to close at N1.11 trillion from N979.4 billion in the full year of 2018.
First Bank of Nigeria’s profit before tax rose to N60 billion in 2019 from N51.3 billion posted in 2018, representing a 16.9 per cent while its profit after tax increased by 15.3 per cent to N51.8 billion from N44.9 billion recorded in 2018.
However, the bank’s gross earnings for the period was flat year-on-year, recording N439.9 billion, from N441.5 billion in 2018 while its Net-interest income was down by 4.6 per cent, from N221.5 billion to N211.4 billion.
Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank Plc posted PBT of N170.7billion, representing a growth of 3.9 per cent over N164.2 billion recorded in the corresponding period of September 2018. The Bank’s loan book grew by 9.2 per cent from N1.26 trillion recorded as at December 2018 to N1.37 trillion in September 2019, while customers’ deposit rose by 5.1 per cent to N2.39 trillion from N2.27 trillion in December 2018.
United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) also reported a 32.3 per cent increase in its PAT for the period ended 30 September 2019, rising to N81.62 billion from N61.69 billion while its PBT for the period under consideration increased by 24.16 per cent to N98.23 billion, up from N79.11 billion in the third quarter of 2018.
Further analysis of its financial statement showed that the bank generated N158.91 billion in net interest income over the past nine months of 2019, indicative of a 5.5 per cent increase compared to N150.69 billion which was generated in Q3 2018. The bank also generated a net fee and commission income of N63.29 billion for Q3 2019 as against N50.53 billion for the same period in 2018. This represents approximately a 25.25 per cent increase.
Union Bank, on the other hand, recorded a five per cent increase in its PBT, rising by N15.6 billion from N14.9 billion in 2018. However, the bank’s gross earnings was down by 4 per cent to N117.2 billion from N122.2 billion while interest income slipped by 2 per cent to N90 billion from N91.5 billion.
Zenith Bank Plc increased its gross earnings for the period by 3.52 per cent to N491.3 billion against N474.6 billion in nine months of 2018. The bank’s PBT stood at N176.18 billion against N167.31 billion in the comparative period of 2018 while its PAT increased by five per cent, to N150.72 billion when compared to N144.18 billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2018.
The group recorded a significant growth in non-interest income, expanding by 22 per cent to N156.8 billion from N128.7 billion in corresponding period of 2018. Similarly, Earnings Per Share (EPS) rose by five per cent to N4.80 during the period under review from N4.58 in Q3 2018.
Speaking on the results, the Group Managing Director, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, said, the bank had their focus on retail market gained momentum and would be maintained going forward. “The strong retail contribution demonstrates the effectiveness of our continued drive around low-cost deposits, on the back of an innovative digital platform.
“Asset quality improved as guided, to 6.4 per cent on the bank of a robust risk management approach.
“This is expected to trend into the future as we strive to hit and surpass the standard we had built in the industry prior to the merger. Similarly, liquidity ratio improved year on year to 49.7 per cent, reflecting deliberate steps to optimise our balance sheet in order to ensure the group’s liquidity position remains robust,” Wigwe said.
Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo, said the bank is looking forward to sustaining the momentum in Q4 2019 and achieving its set targets for 2019 financial year.
According to him, Retail Banking continued to deliver impressive results as savings deposits increased by 9.2 per cent to N248.9 billion, further adding that the bank is on course to achieving the 6th consecutive year of double-digit savings growth. “Savings deposits now accounts for about 22.3 percent of total deposits, an attestation of our increasing market share in the retail segment. The growth in deposits is further complemented by its digital banking push which has resulted in having over 46.4 per cent of its customers enrolled on the mobile/internet banking products and recording over 82.0 per cent of total transactions on digital platforms.
“Digital Banking continued to gain traction driven by the bank’s new initiatives in the retail lending and increased cross-selling of our digital banking products”, he added.
The Group Managing Director, First Bank, Urum Eke, said: “Our performance in the third quarter reflects the growth trajectory over the first nine months of the year, with significant strides made in transforming the group’s asset quality and diversifying our revenue streams across the board.”
