Yemisi Izuora
Access Bank Plc has at its 28th Annual General Meeting, AGM in Lagos received the approval of its shareholders to pay 40k dividend.
This brought the total dividend payment for the 2016 financial year to 65k from Access Bank, considering the earlier interim dividend of 25k last year to the shareholders.
It was a result of a resilient performance in 2016 by the bank, despite the economic recession and the challenging financial market terrain in the country.
Independent Auditors Price Water House Coopers through its representative Mr Anthony Oputa and Mr Henry Aragho agreed that the bank’s statement of financial position and statement of comprehensive income were in agreement with the book of accounts.
Chairman of Access Bank Mrs Mosun Bello-Olusoga, FCA in her remarks said “Our prudent risk management kept us in good stead as the bank maintained non-performing loans of 2.1 per cent”. On the capital adequacy ratio and liquidity ration, she was happy to inform shareholders that the bank achieved 21 per cent and 43.6 per cent respectively.
Bello-Olusoga also noted that in the third quarter, the bank successfully raised $300 million senior unsecured notes, thus making it the first Nigerian bank to raise dollar-denominated debt in 2016.
This according to her, underscored the confidence of investors in the Bank and signalled the return of investor confidence in the otherwise bearish market.
Also, the GMD/CEO of Access Bank Plc Mr Herbert Wigwe said “Despite the challenging economy, 2016 was a year of progress for Access bank. Many of the strategic choices we made over the years were validated when tested by the economic recession.
These critical decisions included our business mix, our risk management culture, and our capital and liquidity strategies”.
Speaking on the 65k total dividend payment for 2016 financial year, Mr Wigwe told shareholders that the bank was pursuing a residual dividend policy to ensure sustainability of the bank.
In the area of financial services, Wigwe assured shareholders of improved delivery in 2017 particularly through the expansion of the ATM network across the country.
He thanked the shareholders for their support and informed them of the plan to roll out the next five year strategic growth trajectory for the bank, to cover the period 2018-2023.
Shareholder group leaders like Chief Timothy Adesiyan and Sir Sunny Nwosu commended the bank on its performance, despite the challenging economic indicators.
Looking at the highlights of the 2016 financials, Access bank achieved a 13 per cent increase in gross earnings N381.3bl from N337.4bl in 2015, profit-before-tax increase of 20.4 per cent N90.3bl in 2016 from N75bl in 2015.
The profit-before-tax rose 8.5 per cent to N71.4bl in 2016 from N65.9bl in 2015, customer deposits increased 24.1 per cent to N2.089trl from N1.683trl, while shareholder’s funds hit N454.5bl from N367.8bl.