Goddy Egene
Shareholders of Access Bank yesterday commended the board of directors, management and staff for recording an impressive results and paying increased dividend for the year ended December 31, 2019.
The shareholders gave the commendation at the 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Access Bank Plc was held in Lagos by proxy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Access Bank Plc ended the year with a profit before tax (PBT) of N115.378 billion, a profit after tax of N97.5 billion and paid a final dividend of 40 kobo per share to bring the total dividend for the year to 65 kobo.
The three leaders of various shareholders’ associations including Mr. Sunny Nwosu, Mr. Owolabi Peters and Mrs. Bisi Bakare, who represented other shareholders, hailed the results and efforts the bank is making to support the federal government in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
Nwosu, said Access Bank Plc said the merger of Access Bank with Diamond Bank last year, which had added significant value to the bank, showed that board and management had a good foresight.
“The professional and seamless manner with which the integration was done should be commended and shareholders appreciate the board and management. The future remains very bright for the all shareholders, considering the synergy the merger has brought to the bank and the expertise the management and staff continued to deploy to ensure Access Bank maintain a leading role in the retail banking space,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Bakare said unlike some of its competitors, Access Bank has recorded increased profits in the past three years, noting that shareholders have confidence in the board and management to continue to deliver improved performance, going forward.
Addressing the shareholders, Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc, Dr. Herbert Wigwe, the strength of the performance reflects a growing franchise supported by digital capabilities and improving customer service touchpoints.
“The retail business gained momentum, leveraging opportunities in key sectors to consolidate market share dominance through our digital loans. The wholesale business also continued to soar in the year, following intense marketing drive and continued investment in the sector to deliver stronger synergies,” he said.
Wigwe said Access Bank Plc has a robust business continuation plan in that would ensure the COVID-19 impact has is minimal impact on its operations.
“Access Bank was well prepared for the COVID-19 early enough and created ways of working from home and working with our customers. We set up links with our customers and many ways of reaching out to our customers three or four times in a day. This happened even before we started working with the larger society and enabled us to start fighting this pandemic. So Access Bank has put a system in place and now working with CACOVID to make sure that everyone knows what he is doing,” he said.
