Zenith Bank Plc has said its gross earnings increased by four per cent from N474.6bn in the third quarter of 2018 to N491.26bn in third quarter of 2019.
A statement from the group, and quoted by The Punch, said its profit before tax grew by five per cent from N167.3bn in third quarter of 2018 to N176.18bn in Q3 of 2019.
Profit after tax rose by five per cent from N144.17bn in Q3 2018 to N150.72bn in Q3 2019.
It stated, “Despite a challenging macro-economic backdrop, the group recorded a significant growth in non-interest income, expanding by 22 per cent from N128.7bn in Q3 2018 to N156.8bn for the current period. Our platforms and channels have been the enablers of this growth, with fees from electronic products doubling to N35.3bn from N17.6bn in Q3 2018.
“Our cost optimisation strategies and aggressive retail banking drive are yielding the desired effects as cost-to-income ratio declined from 51.2 per cent in Q3 2018 to 50.1 per cent in Q3 2019 with earnings per share growing by five per cent from N4.58 in Q3 2018 to N4.80 in Q3 2019.”
The group said its retail and corporate banking franchises continued its momentum with customers’ deposits growing by seven per cent to N3.95tn, from N3.69tn recorded as of December 2018.
This, it said, was a reflection of increasing share of the industry’s deposits and customers’ confidence in the Zenith brand.
These deposit acquisitions had directly contributed to its cost of funds, improving from 3.3 per cent in Q3 2018 to 2.95 per cent as of Q3 2019, it added.
The statement said, “We have continued to deploy capital to creating viable risk assets with gross loans and advances growing by nine per cent from N2.02tn as of December 2018 to N2.2tn as of Q3 2019 across both the retail and corporate segments.
“Our focus remains the search for bankable lending opportunities to ensure the attainment of the minimum regulatory loan-to-deposit ratio of 65 per cent by December 31, 2019 without compromising our prudence.
“Our robust risk management framework has ensured that non-performing loans ratio declined from 4.98 per cent in December 2018 to 4.95 per cent in the current period. Our commitment to maintaining a shock-proof balance sheet remains with liquidity and capital adequacy ratios at 63.8 per cent and 23.8 per cent, respectively, both above regulatory thresholds.”
The group said it would sustain its competitiveness and share of market in the corporate segment as well as build upon its digital foundation to reinforce its retail banking initiatives.
