The Chairman of Ecobank Group, Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh has promised that the bank will continue to implement the 51-point corporate governance action plan approved by shareholders last year in compliance with the recommendations of a joint report by Nigeria’s Securities & Exchange Commission and professional services firm, KPMG.

*File Photo

Speaking at a reception in Lagos for shareholders before a routine board meeting recently, Ikazoboh said “We have substantially concluded much of this exercise, and whatever areas there are that are outstanding are receiving adequate attention.

We expect to complete them as soon as possible.” He added that the governance structure at the board of directors level was also being reviewed to produce an oversight architecture that would enable the board to be most effective in executing its oversight and reform agenda for ETI.

The chairman told shareholders that between the 30th of June, 2014, when the present board of directors was inaugurated, to the 11th of May, 2015, their investment in the bank had seen appreciable growth as the share price increased from N16.89 to N23.27 within the period, representing a 37.8 percent increase.

He further assured the pan-African institution’s shareholders of a bright future that will guarantee higher benefits for all stakeholders. According to him “Cost efficiency with cost income ratio has gone down from over 70 percent a year ago to about 62.7 percent as at the first quarter of 2015 and is still going down,” Mr Ikazoboh noted. “Our return on equity has improved markedly from 15 percent in 2014 to 19 percent in this first quarter and still increasing.”

The chairman added that the group’s non-performing loan ratio had dropped to less than 4 percent, and that it intended to lay a solid balance-sheet foundation to ensure that it builds on this strong performance in a sustainable manner. He explained that the goal was to replicate as well as improve on this in the future. The chairman said that some key decisions had been made this year to sustain this performance on the capital appreciation side of shareholders’ equity portfolio.