Commenting on the development and the financial statements of the Group, the Coordinator of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu, commended the Board and Management of FCMB Group Plc for the performance and dividend payment, despite the particularly challenging operating environment for banks in 2014. He added that, ‘’the increase in the Group’s profit from N16b in 2013 to N22b in 2014 is commendable. It is a clear signal that things are looking up. We are also happy that FCMB has emerged as a strong player in retail banking and from what we have seen so far, we are optimistic that the Bank will continue to wax stronger’’.
On his part, the National Chairman of Shareholders’ Trustees Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Mukhtar Mukhtar, said, ‘’the result is very wonderful, despite the very harsh economic environment. The FCMB has been able to give us a wonderful result. We are very satisfied. The 25k dividend is very encouraging. Profit after tax has gone up, total assets has increased. We are very impressed with the result. I congratulate the current executive management of the Bank for a job well done’’. On the refreshed corporate identity of FCMB, Alhaji Mukhtar described the move as welcome development that will help the Bank become more visible and connect better with customers.Speaking at the AGM, the Chairman of FCMB Group, Dr. Jonathan Long, stated that the Group, which comprises First City Monument Bank Limited, FCMB Capital Markets Limited and CSL Stockbrokers Limited, ‘’has achieved a strong and sustained growth over the past three years’’, adding that during the past year, the Group continued the profitable development of its core banking, capital markets and stock-broking businesses’’. Mr. Long assured that with the implementation of the Group’s supervisory structure, ‘’we are confident that this will help us to consolidate the gains made over the past years and face the economic challenges which we are confronted in 2015’’.
The Managing Director of FCMB Group Plc, Mr. Peter Obaseki, noted that, "the Group is on track to deliver on its promise to its various shareholders’’. He continued by explaining that the Financial Holding Company structure adopted by FCMB in 2013 has given, ‘’opportunity for us to diversify our revenue sources and minimise our exposure to the risks inherent in some of the businesses in our portfolio of investments’’. Mr. Obaseki stated that despite regulatory and macro-economic challenges, ‘’our future outlook is bright, our capital base remain strong, the bank’s strategies are yielding results and we will focus more improving contribution to revenue from the non-banking businesses, especially in the wealth management space’’.
Also speaking, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of First City Monument Bank Limited, Mr. Ladi Balogun, pointed out that the Bank made considerable progress on the priorities it set out last year, including accelerating market share in retail banking, primarily through consumer finance; enhanced investment in customer experience as a means of growing customer base and containment of operating expense. ‘’Our capital positioned strengthened over the year. We successfully raised N26 billion tier 2 capital which helped us maintain a reasonable capital adequacy ratio, at 19 percent. We remain well placed to meet expected future growth requirements’’, he said
Mr. Balogun disclosed that following the Bank’s renewed focus on retail banking, ‘’we acquired 500,000 customers in 2014. We also supported 278,518 borrowing customers during the year with loan disbursements which demonstrates the broad impact we are having on the economy’’. According to him, the Bank also provided greater convenience for its retail customers by rolling out 245 new ATMs, just as it migrated more customers to alternate channels.
On the future outlook, he said that among other priorities, ‘’our e-banking and cards business will be a key focus area for non-interest income growth to replace COT, bring greater convenience and consistency of experience to our customers. We will continue to moderate our operating expenses and cost of risk by consolidating our risk acceptance criteria in an increasingly high-risk environment, while focusing increasingly on deposit growth’’. The GMD/CEO of First City Monument Bank told the shareholders that, ‘’we are very much on course to build a dominant retail banking business well diversified across lending, savings deposits, bancassurance and payments. Overall, we are confident this progress and momentum will be sustained, as we continue to grow our market share through service excellence and improve our efficiency ratios’’.
The audited accounts of FCMB Group Plc for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed a stellar performance. The Group’s total assets grew by 17 per cent to N1.2trillion, deposits rose by 6% to N755billion. All the Group’s subsidiaries achieved progress during 2014 with FCMB Capital Markets Limited recording a profit before tax of N1 billion, an increase of 145% compared to that of 2013, while CSL Stockbrokers Limited witnessed a 127 per cent surge in profit before tax to N377million
No comments:
Post a Comment