Financial results of the tier-1 banks for the period ended December 31, 2018, showed that earnings for the period was down, undermined by significant decline in Zenith Bank and FBN Holdings Plc’s earnings, though pre-tax profit witnessed relative increase at 13.97 percent.The banks, which include Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc, posted a combined gross earnings of N2.67 trillion, a 0.4 percent decrease over N2.
However, their pre-tax profit rose to N722.53 billion from N633.92 billion in the corresponding period in 2017, representing 13.97 percent increase.said that besides the impact of high non-performing loans and declining yield environment in FGN debt instruments, tottering economic environment also contributed to the weakness in the banks’ earnings.
Specifically, the bank’s gross earnings stood at N630.34 billion, 15.4 percent decline against N745.19 billion in 2017. So, for the banks to have been able to achieve about the same level of earnings, was a mark of resilience on their part. The other factor that worked against them was the increase in non-performing loan; we saw increase in non-performing loan at about 15 percent in 2018.”
“Defying the relatively weak economic growth in Africa, earnings were positive and we grew our balance sheet by 20 percent, driven by the 23 percent growth in our deposit funding. In a period of economic uncertainty, we have focused on retail deposit mobilisation, with exciting results,” Uzoka said.
vanguardngr Now everybody is in the excuse game. Did tier-1 banks perform well? Yes, but low yield, high NPL took a toll on our performance. The real answer is NO, e did not perform well. Then move on. I had said it. This Lai disease is catching.