FBN Holdings Closes Review Period with Gross Earnings of N757.3bn

Despite the tough operating environment, the First Bank Holdings Plc (FBN) Group has delivered higher topline revenues year-on-year, closing the review period with gross earnings of N757.3bn, a 28.2% growth driven by significant growth in Non-Interest Income (96.1% growth).
Disclosing this during the 10th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos, the Group Chairman, First Bank Holdings Plc, Alhaji Ahmad Abdullahi, said the uncertainties and adverse economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in 2020 continued into 2021, noting that the rollout of vaccines to combat and contain the spread of the virus provided optimism that 2021 will witness socio-economic recovery.
He explained that in Nigeria, the impact of the pandemic was felt differently following four consecutive waves of the coronavirus, further compounded by heightened insecurity levels across the country, rising debt to GDP ratio, debt servicing to revenue ratio, shrinking disposable income on the back of rising double-digit headline inflation and a very volatile foreign exchange market.
He remarked that while the country has fully reopened, economic recovery remains slow, adding that on the journey to recovery, the financial services industry has been at the forefront of helping businesses and individuals through the difficulties.
Abdullahi revealed that FBN Holdings, through its largest subsidiary First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank), remains an active member of the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), the private sector initiative working with the governments and regulators on multiple initiatives to contain the virus, ameliorate the attendant pains and revamp the economy for recovery and future growth.
The FBN Holdings chairman maintained that the slow recovery notwithstanding, the board and management of FBN Holdings remained committed to value enhancement and the delivery of superior returns to Shareholders.
According to him, “Leveraging our technology and innovation ecosystems, the Group continued to provide leading-edge business solutions across segments that drove the overall performance of our portfolio of businesses. The relentless development of next-generation capabilities through targeted investments in technology yielded positive results for the Group and has been instrumental in securing our place in the industry. We continue to work closely with our regulators to strengthen the growth of the financial services industry domestically and regionally.
“Strict budget discipline and the commencement of the Group Shared Services programme helped to moderate our operating expenses materially below headline inflation and kept our cost-to-income ratio at 56.4% by year-end. All these feats culminated in significantly higher profit for the year pushing Profit Before Tax (PBT) to N166.7bn, which is a 99.1% growth over 2020 and the highest profit ever recorded in the history of this Group. Efficient balance sheet management, evidenced by stronger assets and deposit bases, enabled the Group to generate double-digit returns for equity holders – 18.4% Return on Average Equity as at full-year 2021.
“A cleaner loan portfolio demonstrated by a lower Non-Performing Loans ratio (6%) and aggressive recoveries on loans previously written off, including the loan to Atlantic Energy Limited, further empowered the Group to advance its contribution to nation-building through real sector lending and the empowerment of numerous small businesses through our SME Connect platform. Our achievements far extend beyond the financial performance of the Group and its subsidiaries.
“We have remained at the forefront and continued to champion the CBN’s financial inclusion agenda with an agent banking network of over 167,0001 agents located in 772 of the 774 local governments in Nigeria. Our unique multi-business delivery model places us in a vantage position to leverage the inherent synergies between Strategic Business Units to create unparalleled value across sectors and customer segments domestically, regionally, and internationally. One of the outcomes of these collaborative efforts is the generation of N20.8bn in 2021, purely from the conversion of synergistic opportunities within the Group.”