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Zenith Bank pushes profit aboves N200bn mark

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Zenith Bank has announced an impressive result for the year ended December 31, 2019, with Profit After Tax (PAT) of N208.8 billion, achieving the feat as the first Nigerian Bank to cross the N200 billion mark.

This is clear show of the bank’s resilience and market leadership.

According to the bank’s audited financial results for the 2019 financial year released Friday in Lagos on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Lagos on Friday, profit after tax rose by 8% to N208.8 billion from the N193 billion recorded in the previous year.

The Group also recorded a growth in gross earnings of 5per cent rising to N662.3 billion from N630.3 billion reported in the previous year.

This growth was driven by the 29per cent increase in non-interest income from N179.9 billion in 2018 to N231.1 billion in 2019.

Fees on electronic products continues to grow significantly with a 108per cent  Year on Year (YoY) growth from N20.4 billion in 2018 to N42.5 billion in the current year.  This is a validation of the bank’s retail transformation strategy which continues to deliver impressive results.

Profit before tax also increased by 5per cent growing from N232 billion to N243 billion in the current year, arising from top line growth and continued focus on cost optimization strategies. Cost-to-income ratio moderated from 49.3per cent to 48.8per cent.

The drive for cheaper retail deposits coupled with the low interest yield environment helped reduce the cost of funding from 3.1per cent to 3.0per cent.

However this also affected net interest margin which reduced from 8.9per cent to 8.2per cent in the current year due to re-pricing of interest bearing assets.

 Although returns on equity and assets held steady YoY at 23.8per cent and 3.4per cent respectively, the Group still delivered an improved Earnings per Share (EPS) which grew 8per cent from N6.15 to N6.65 in the current year.

The Group increased its share of the market as it secured increased customer deposits across the corporate and retail space as deposits grew by 15per cent to close at N4.26 trillion.

Total assets also increased by 7per from N5.96 trillion to N6.35 trillion.  The Group created new viable risk assets as gross loans grew by 22per cent from N2.016 billion to N2.462 billion. This was executed prudently at a low cost of risk of 1.1per cent and a significant reduction in the non-performing loan ratio from 4.98per cent to 4.30per cent. Prudential ratios such as liquidity and capital adequacy ratios also remained above regulatory thresholds at 57.3per cent and 22.0per cent respectively.

In 2020, the Group remains strategically positioned to capture the opportunities in the corporate and retail segments, while efficiently managing costs and expanding further its retail franchise employing digital assets and innovation.

Consistent with this superlative performance and in recognition of its track record of excellent performance, Zenith Bank was voted as the Best Commercial Bank in Nigeria 2019 by the World Finance and the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria 2019 by The Banker.

The Bank was also recognized as Bank of the Year and Best Bank in Retail Banking at the 2019 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards, and was ranked as the Best Digital Bank in Nigeria 2019 by Agusto & Co. Most recently, the Bank emerged as the Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the Thisday Awards 2020.

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