GTB chief says despite TSA, customer deposits relatively stable

Guaranty Trust Bank says the implementation of the Treasury Single Account has not adversely affected its deposit base.
It said that its deposit base had remained relatively stable.
Segun Agbaje, the bank’s Managing Director, said this at the 26th Annual General Meeting of the bank in Lagos on Tuesday.
Agbaje said the bank only recorded a marginal year-on-year decline of 0.49 per cent to N1.61 trillion from N1.62 trillion in 2014.
According to him, the bank’s balance sheet also remained strong with a 7.2 per cent growth in total assets from N2.36 trillion in 2014 to N2.52 trillion during the year.
Agbaje said the bank in April 2015 became the first financial institution in Nigeria to fully implement the triple International Organisation for Standardisation Certification by the British Standard Institute as directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He said: “The certification attests that we have instituted internationally accepted process that guarantee the security of our customers’ information.”
Agbaje said the bank invested about N400 million in corporate social responsibility projects during the financial year ended December 31, 2015.
He said the investment was made in four major pillars of education, community development, arts and the environment to support the economic growth and progress in the bank’s communities.
According to him, education gulped 57 per cent, community development 33 per cent, arts seven per cent, while the environment got two per cent.
The shareholders approved the bank’s final dividend of N44.73 billion.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the dividend translated to N1.52 per share as against the final dividend per share of N1.50 paid in 2014.
Boniface Okezie, the President of the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, commended the bank for the dividend in spite of operational challenges.
Okezie urged the bank to maintain the trend in the years ahead.
NAN reports that the bank declared gross earnings of N301.9 billion in 2015 compared with N278.5 billion achieved in the preceding period of 2014.
The gross earnings represented a growth of 8.4 per cent when compared with the figure for 2014.
The bank’s profit before tax stood at N120.7 billion from the N116.4 billion in 2014.
Also, the bank’s profit after tax also rose to N99.4 billion from N94.4 billion in 2014 during the period under review.
A breakdown of the bank’s result indicated that Interest income rose to N229.24 billion from N200.60 billion in 2014.
Net interest income rose to N159.947 billion against the N142.392 billion achieved in 2014.
Its total assets grew by 7.2 per cent to N2.52 trillion in 2015 from the N2.36 trillion achieved in 2014.
The results showed that loans to customers grew by 7.5 per cent to N1.37 trillion in 2015 from N1.28 trillion in 2014.
NAN.