By Peter Egwuatu

Access Bank Plc has stated its commitment to increased growth and profitability in order to enhance shareholders’ value in the current financial year 2016.

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, who disclosed this said “In the coming year, we will remain resilient in the execution of our bold strategy for increased growth and profitability.

CEO, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe

Though market conditions will remain challenging, we will focus on innovation, proactive risk management and data analytics as catalysts for diversifying income streams and enhancing retail expansion, so as to maximize shareholder value in 2016 and beyond.” He stressed that the 2015 results reinforced the bank’s resolve to generate sustainable returns despite challenging market conditions.

According to him “We achieved strong financial progress in 2015 as the Group recorded a 44 per cent growth in Profit Before Tax, PBT to ¦ 75 billion from ¦ 52 billion in 2014, with significant contribution from our securities trading business.

Guided by a robust risk management framework, our diversified business model yielded positive results as we grew the business cautiously and recorded sound prudential ratios. During the year, we successfully raised capital by way of Rights Issue which has significantly strengthened our capital base and now provides us with sufficient headroom to harness opportunities in key growth sectors of the economy. In addition, the recent upgrade of our national scale credit rating to ‘A’ by Fitch Ratings – even in an extremely difficult environment – will enable growth in the market share of our customers’ businesses and solidify our position as a top player in the industry.”

Wigwe noted that the bank has made remarkable headway in redesigning its systems and processes to enhance service delivery across all customer touchpoints, with emphasis on tailored customer interactions, adding “Leveraging innovation, we introduced products and solutions which have enhanced our brand equity and recorded significant customer adoption and migration to our digital platforms.

A cursory review of the bank’s 2015 financial performance show that gross earnings increased by 38 per cent from N245.5 billion in 2014 to N337.4 billion, an indication of improved efficiency in driving profitability. The interest income and non interest income contributed 62 per cent and 38 per cent respectively to boost the earnings.

Interest Income grew by 17 per cent Year on Year , y/y to ¦ 207.8 billion in 2015 from ¦ 176.9billion in 2014 as a result of improved income from lending activities and increased yield on investment securities. Non-Interest Income stood at ¦ 129.4 billion, up 89 per cent in full year 2015 from ¦ 68.4billion in full year, 2014, largely attributable to strong gains on Foreign Exchange, FX trading income, which reflects management’s ability to diversify the bank’s revenue sources.

Also, operating Income increased to ¦ 234.8billion in 2015, representing a 39 per cent growth y/y on the back of increased earnings compared with ¦ 168.4billion in the corresponding period of 2014.

Profit Before Tax (PBT) for the period rose to ¦ 75.0billion, representing a 44 per cent y/y growth when compared to ¦ 52.0billion in 2014. Profit After Tax (PAT) was up 53 per cent in 2015 to 65.9billion from 43.1billion in 2014.

Other performance indicators show that the bank’s Return On Average Equity (ROAE) grew from 16.5 per cent in 2014 to 20.4 per cent in 2015, , indicative of the bank’s commitment to maximising shareholder returns.

On the balance sheet, side, the bank’s loans and advances went up 25 per cent to ¦ 1.41trillion in December 2015, from ¦ 1.12 trillion in December 2014 , owing largely to risk-conscious growth in target sectors of the economy; Customer Deposits totaled ¦ 1.68trillion in the period , a 16 per cent increase from ¦ 1.45trillion in December 2014 driven by enhanced customer engagement and an accelerated deposit mobilization drive.
Total Assets closed at ¦ 2.59trillion for the year , up 23 per cent y/y from ¦ 2.10trillion in December 2014,thus reflecting overall business growth.
Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) improved by 110 bases points, bps to 19.5 per cent when compared to 18.4 per cent in December 2014, benefitting from the capital injection following the Rights Issue during the year.

On its assets quality, credit quality improved in the year as the percentage of non-performing loans to total gross loans stood at 1.7 per cent , which represents a 50bps improvement over 2.2 per cent recorded as at December 2014; Coverage Ratio (with regulatory risk reserves) stood at 279.8 per cent as at December 2015 from 159.1 per cent in December 2014; Cost of Risk stood at 1.0 per cent from 1.2 per cent in 2014; Impairment Charges increased to ¦ 14.2billion from ¦ 11.7billion in 2014, driven by specific and collective impairment recognized during the year due to macroeconomic headwinds.