Goddy Egene
Zenith Bank Plc on Monday released its full year 2017 results with numbers that clearly affirmed its position as the largest Tier-1 bank in the country.
The bank’s audited accounts presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that its gross earnings rose by 47 per cent from N508 billion in 2016 to N745.19 billion in 2017.
The results further revealed that Zenith’s profit before tax (PBT) and profit after tax (PAT) witnessed an impressive growth of 30 per cent and 37 per cent year-on-year respectively, to N203.46 billion and N177.93 billion, up from NN156.75 billion and N129.7 billion respectively.
Zenith Bank also demonstrated its ability to take the right actions and make the right choices in its assets and liability management strategies culminating in a 23 per cent increase in interest income from N384.6 billion in 2016 to N474.6 billion for the year ending December 31, 2017.
Its audited results also showed that the bank posted an asset base of N5.6 trillion, an increase of 18 per cent over the N4.74 trillion recorded for the same period in 2016.
A careful analysis of the results showed that the bank was able to strategically switch assets in favour of high yielding asset classes and was also able to optimally price its assets and liabilities in a high yield environment.
Accordingly, non-interest income also jumped by 119 per cent from N123.4 billion as at December 2016 to N270.6 billion driven by the bank’s ability to take advantage of its strong foreign currency liquidity to generate income.
Commenting on the results, market analysts said this was a show of resilience and demonstration of the ability of the bank to innovate and create impressive value from the resources available to it.
“We note further that Zenith achieved this excellent financial performance, despite adopting a very conservative approach to recognising potential losses in its risk asset portfolio,†one analyst said.
Zenith Bank has continued to maintain a solid and high-quality capital position with a capital adequacy ratio at 27 per cent, well above the statutory requirement of 15 per cent, effectively providing room for further growth and strong and consistent dividend payout.
The bank has also maintained an excellent liquidity position with a liquidity ratio of 70 per cent, remaining strong and well above the regulatory requirement of 30 per cent.
Consistent with this performance and in recognition of its track record of consistent performance, the bank was recently honoured with The Bank of the Year Award by BusinessDay and Best Bank in Customer Service in a KPMG Survey.
Recognition has also come the way of the bank from outside the shores of Nigeria, as it was recently recognised as the Best Corporate Governance Bank in Nigeria by The World Finance for the fifth time, just as Ethical Boardroom, a European based boardroom watchdog, reaffirmed this recognition by naming Zenith the Best Bank in Corporate Governance in 2017.
In similar fashion, The Banker Magazine ranked Zenith Bank as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in 2017.
