FBN Holding cleans books to achieve single digit non-performing loan portfolio
Reporter
FBN Holdings has said it is cleaning its books to achieve single digit non-performing loan portfolio.
Urum Kalu Eke, group managing director of FBN Holdings, said Thursday that the group is aiming to achieve a single digit NPL before 2019 business year-end, adding that the first step to achieving the target the restructuring of the bank’s oil and gas loans, which constituted 70 percent of structured portfolio in 2016.
Eke who spoke at the company’s “Facts behind the Figures’’, which held at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos, unveiled key growth strategies to boost the company’s revenue and shareholders’ value from 2017 financial year going forward.
According to him, FBN Holdings plans to revert NPL to single digit region within the next 24 months on the back of active remediation of top exposures, that about five percent of the loan book has been restructured.
He equally said the company is addressing the needs of its customers and stakeholder in delivering structural changes in the risk-taking culture, processes and oversight; maintain sustained improvement of cost and capital efficiency; enhanced revenue growth across the group and create digital competency to enhance revenue and service delivery.
Eke added that the subsidiaries under the Holdings company will execute innovation project to identify new revenue streams, saying there is a plan across the group to grow 20 to 25 million customer accounts within the current strategic cycle.
He said that the company will focus on improving revenue generation across the group, saying the Merchant Bank and insurance businesses recorded 11.5 per cent and 18.7 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue respectively.
He stressed that the company will leveraged the commercial banking retail network to deepen market penetration across the group, adding that there have been increased contributions from e-banking solution.
He stated that another priority area is to achieve 25 per cent of the bank active customer base to digital channels by 2019 and to reach the unbanked and under banked population through the rollout of agent banking.
The Holdings Company for the financial year ended in March 31, 2017, posted gross earnings of N141 billion against N107.5 billion recorded in the preceding period of 2016, an increase of 31.2 percent.
Profit before tax stood at N19.9 billion compared with N22.1 billion achieved in 2016, representing a decrease of 9.5 percent.
Total asset went up by 5.2 percent to N4.98 trillion, while NPL stood at 26 per cent as against 21.5 percent in 2016.