Ugo Aliogo
Accion Microfinance Bank has recorded N1.05 billion profits after tax in its 2018 financial statement, higher than the N809.76 million recorded in 2017.
This represented a 30 per cent growth.
While the bank’s return on equity closed at 23 per cent, its shareholders’ funds grew to N4.61 billion as against the N3.91 billion recorded in 2017, which was a growth of 18 per cent.
Speaking at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank in Lagos, the Chairman, Accion Microfinance Bank, Patrick Akinwuntan, noted that the growth performance clearly depicted the effective deployment of capital provided by our shareholders.
He also noted that the bank had continued to manage its capital base to cover risks inherent in its business as it closed the year with a capital adequacy ratio of 50 per cent as at December, 2018 as against the regulatory requirement of 10 per cent.
In his remarks, the Managing Director, Accion, Mr. Taiwo Joda, said 2018 had challenges characterised by the apprehensions around security and other policy uncertainties in the run-up to the 2019 general elections that slowed down businesses, “nonetheless, the bank was able to weather the storm.”
Taiwo, added that the customer deposits maintained a strong growth of 15 percent, from N2.44 billion in 2017, to N2.81 billion, while the number of depositors/savers and accounts grew by 49 per cent and 44 percent respectively.
According to Joda: “In line with our determination to continually provide easy access to financial services to our clients, we deployed various initiatives in this regard during the year.
“This also enabled us to on-board new clients using our e-Channels (ATMs and POS) and Agency banking network. Cumulatively, the number of ATM cards issued to our customers closed at 72,768 as at December 2018 while the number of the bank’s active agents closed at 204.
“The deployment of the Digital Field Application (DFA) and Electronic digital management system (EDMS) also impacted positively on our service delivery in 2018. Further, our core banking application was upgraded from R10 to the new R16 model of T24 to serve our Customers better while also deploying other ICT Customer-centric initiatives, some of which include the upgrading of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform for better customer service.”
