It was commendation galoreat the 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Access Bank Plc held in Lagos as shareholders hailed the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the Bank for the highly impressive performance for the2019 financial year. The meeting, which was held by proxy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had threeleaders ofvarious shareholders’ association present.Sir Sunny Nwosu of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Mr.Owolabi Peters of Integrated Shareholders Association of Nigeria and Mrs. Bisi Bakareof Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria, said despite the challenging operating environment, Access Bank Plc did notonly record improved results, but also rewarded shareholders with good a dividend that is very timely given the difficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic.For instance, Nwosu said Access Bank Plc had a good foresight by merging with defunct Diamond Bank Plc, noting that “the professionaland seamless manner with whichthe integration was done should be commended and shareholders appreciate the board and management.”According to him,the future remains very bright for the all shareholders, considering the synergy the merger has brought to the Bank and the expertise the management and staff continued to deploy to ensure Access Bank maintain a leading role in the retail banking space. Nwosu also commended leading efforts of Access Bank in the private-sector led Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), supporting the Federal Government to fight the pandemic.On her part, Mrs. Bakare said unlike some of its competitors, Access Bank has recordedincreased profitsin the past three years, noting that shareholders have confidence inthe board and management to continue to deliver improved performance,going forward.In his address, Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc, Dr. Herbert Wigwe,saidtheGroup delivered a 26 per cent increase in gross earnings ofN666.8billion fromN528.7billion in 2018, comprising interest in-come growth of 41 per cent from previous levels toN155.9billiondespite declining interest rate environment.“The effects ofan enlarged loan book contributed significantly to the interest income growth of N155.9billion (+41 per cent y/y), leadingto strong bottom-line figures. The net effect on operatingincome resulted in strong profit before tax (PBT) ofN115.4billionas against N103.2billion in 2018.The strength of the performance reflects a growing franchise supported by digital capabilities and improving customer service touch points.The retail business gainedmomentum, leveraging opportunities in key sectors toconsolidate market share dominance through our digitalloans. The wholesale business also continued to soar inthe year, following intense marketing drive and continuedinvestment in the sector to deliver stronger synergies,” he said.
The Bank ended the year with profit after tax (PAT) of N97.509 billion, up from N94.981billion and paid a final dividend of 40 kobo to bring the total dividend to 65 kobo per share. Wigwe said themerger with Diamond Bank produced atruly diversified institution with remarkable retail presenceand solid wholesale market share.“This has propelled ustowards achieving our five- year strategic objectives to createthe largest bank in Nigeria by total assets as well as largestin Africa by customer base with over 36 million unique customers across the network. Using an agile approach and with strong dedication, wehave achieved a significant milestone in financial serviceson the continent whilst delivering the fastest and mostseamless customer Day 1 integration globally. With theemergence of the new entity, the bank is well- positionedto cater to the retail business through a broader reach andproduct offerings tailored to individual customer needsand delivered efficiently.Access Bankis nowa tier one retail banking franchise with strong digital payments capabilities and benefiting from a diversified business mix,” he said. Wigwe said the bank is already addressing the issue highoperating expenses and taking drasticmeasures to ensure that expenses are reduced significantly, adding the effect would be felt mostly in the second, third and finalquarterof 2020.Speaking on how Access Bank is running its business in the COVID-19 period, the GMD assuredthat Access Bank has put in place a robust business continuity process enough to sustain the bank’s performance going forward.“Access Bank was well prepared for the COVID-19 early enough and created ways of working from home and working with our customers. Weset up links with our customers andmany ways of reaching out to our customers three or four times in a day.This happened even before we started working with the larger societyand enabled us to start fighting this pandemic. So Access Bank has put asystem in place and now working with CACOVID to make sure that everyone knows what he is doing,” he said.