By Goddy Egene
Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank (ITMB) Plc yesterday announced an increase of 33 per cent in its profit after tax (PAT) for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. The PAT rose from N221.262 million in the corresponding period of 2018 to N293.456 million in 2019.
The profit was recorded from a gross earnings of N993.856 million, up from N717.360 million in 2018, while interest and similar income stood at N763.611 million as against N531.832 million.
Net fees and commission income was N88.392 million compared with N47,740 million, just as credit loss charges rose from N2.825 million to N4.238 million. Total operating expenses increase from N409 million to N540 million. Profit before tax increased to N308.902 million from N233.769 million, while PAT increased from N293.456 million to N221.262 million.
The Managing Director/CEO of ITMB Plc, Dr. Olabanjo Obaleye last month said the company continued to maintain profitability since its listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) despite the harsh business environment in the country.
He said the bank had increased its number of shareholders, attained national primary mortgage bank status, and opened its Lagos regional office.
“We have received strong industry and regulatory ratings, and many industry and international awards. The bank also added two independent directors and became shareholders with Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company and Mortgage Warehouse Funding Limited. The bank has held its annual general meetings consistently,” he said.
Obaleye explained that ITMB Plc was constantly exploring areas that could advance its core values, part of which was the adoption of digital initiatives like development of mobile application which will increase convenience and payment options available to customers.
He said: “We believe that we need to be technology-driven and that is why we are exploring available options by joining the NIBSS platform to improve customer service, drive revenue and promote corporate goodwill. We have also implemented end-to-end monitoring in a bid to Increase the number and quality of risk assets which will translate to higher earnings for the bank.”
Meanwhile, the stock market opened for the week on a bearish note as the NSE All-Share Index fell 1.14 per cent to close at 27,314.87, while market shed N153.7 billion to close at N13.3 trillion. Also, activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell 9.8 per cent and 16.2 per cent to 175.8 million shares and N2.6 billion respectively.
