Banking Briefs
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DIAMOND Bank Plc has announced 29 percent growth in its profit after tax for the year ended December 31, 2013. The bank said it had also delivered a double digit return on equity with a 16.7 percent increase in profit before tax to N32.1billion. As a result of this, the bank has proposed a dividend of 30k per 50k ordinary shares.
Alex Otti, group managing director, said the bank was pleased to record improvement in its earnings. “We are pleased to announce that Diamond Bank has exceeded its N30bn profit guidance to return a profit before tax of N32bn in 2013. This result is rooted in our strength to attract low-cost deposits and deploy these into various assets at profitable yet acceptable risk levels.”
While the bank achieved a net interest income of N104.6bn (up by 17.1 percent from N89.3billion recorded in 2012), it generated interest and similar income of N143.1bn (up by 27.3 percent from N112.4bn earned in 2012). Diamond Bank also announced a 46.2 per cent increase in other income from N23.8bn it recorded in the preceding year to N34.8bn in 2013.
The bank said the current financial results showed improvement in various areas of the Group balance sheet with loans and advances to customers increasing by 17.8 percent to N689.2bn; deposits from customers increasing by 32.5 percent to N1.206bn. Diamond Bank recalled it opened its United Kingdom Subsidiary in 2013, adding that the group has enjoyed significant synergy from the expansion into the UK market. Diamond Bank is regarded as the leading bank in SME and retail business in the country.
The bank, which has banking subsidiaries in Republic of Benin, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire and Senegal, has deployed the retail model across these West African countries and this has expedited its earnings and strengthened its balance sheet with capacity to generate significant low-cost deposit across the West African coast.
Sterling Bank Empowers Youth
STERLING Bank Plc has moved to empower the nation’s youth through a programme aimed at helping them to become better prepared for their careers. As a result, the bank said it had concluded plans to hold its annual ‘Get ready for work’ concert this month in Ibadan.
A statement by the bank said the programme was conceived to change the mindset of graduates towards entrepreneurship. It will also equip them with skills necessary to bridge the gap between employees’ expectations and employer’s requirements. Abubakar Suleiman, chief financial officer of the bank, explained that the concert was conceived to strategically help the financial institution to actualise its corporate social responsibility drive in the education sector.
“This programme is expected to change the mindset of our youths whereby they will begin to think of being their own boss by embracing entrepreneurship. Those in the paid employment will also begin to think of what they could give back to the institution where they earn their living and not necessarily what they stand to gain,” he said.
Already, non-governmental organisations and professionals have aligned with the vision, according to the bank. The statement quoted Iyaduni Olubode, a representative from LEAP Africa, as commending the bank for investing in the future of youths in the country in a news conference in Lagos.
Olubode, also observed that the programme would go a long way in preparing the minds of “our youths on the challenges in the workplace and help to build the required confidence to engage professionally and instill in them the confidence to communicate and relate with their colleagues.”
Diamond Bank Promotes Over 450 Staff
Diamond Bank PLC recently announced the promotion of more than 450 of its staff across various grade levels. According to the bank’s Head of Corporate Communications Division, Mrs. Ayona Trimnell, “this recent promotion exercise is part of the bank’s annual performance review exercise as the bank seeks to continuously recognize and reward members of staff who have excelled in the workplace. At Diamond, we have always maintained that the Bank’s performance is linked to the quality of the staff it retains. As such, in the last few days, more than 450 members of staff who have excelled have been promoted.
This recent promotion exercise marks a double celebration for staff of the Bank as the Bank recently declared an unprecedented profit after tax of N28.5billion for the last financial year ended. This signifies an impressive 29% growth in the Bank’s profit in an industry that showed largely dwindling financial performance in the last financial year as a result of stifling regulations and negative global economic outcomes.
“For us to continue to perform excellently like we did in 2013, we have to recruit and retain the best people in the industry. That is why, every year, we recruit the best talent in the industry, and also assess our staff on the basis of key performance indicators (KPIs) and deliverables, said’’ Mrs. Trimnell.
Diamond Bank has consistently emerged as one of the largest employer of talent in the Nigerian Banking industry with well over 2,224 new recruits in the last financial year, of which 1,181 are fresh graduates from reputable Universities around the country. The Bank boasts of a robust personnel engagement strategy that helps it to continually attract and retain the best talent in the industry. This is in fulfillment of its corporate vision of becoming a leading financial institution, with the best people, providing unequalled customer experience and delivering superior shareholder value.
Compiled by Chinwe Okafor
— Apr. 14, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
Tags: Abubakar Suleiman Alex Otti Ayona Trimnell Cote D’Ivoire Diamond Bank PLC Ibadan Iyaduni Olubode LEAP Africa Republic of Benin Senegal Sterling Bank Plc Togo United Kingdom Subsidiary West African
