Lagos, Nigeria, November 19, 2020: Sterling Bank Plc, a full service national commercial bank, has reported a trading income of N7.1 billion for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020 compared with N1.9 billion for the corresponding period of 2019, representing an increase of 264.7 percent.

The bank made the remarkable financial performance despite the prevailing uncertainties that characterised the macro-economic environment in the wake of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the attendant fiscal reforms by the Federal Government.

In his remarks on the impressive performance, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the bank said, “With economic activity picking up in the third quarter, following the gradual ease in the nationwide lockdown, we continued to leverage on our existing remote work policy to enhance workforce productivity while ensuring uninterrupted service delivery to both existing and new customers.

Our performance continues to reflect positive results of strategic decisions and investments in our focus areas as we continued to record significant improvement in both funding and operational costs. Overall, we delivered a 7.2 percent increase in operating income and a profit after tax of N7.37 billion despite prevailing uncertainties around the COVID-19 pandemic and recent fiscal reforms.”

The CEO said, a 26.2% dip in fee income occasioned by the downward review of electronic banking fees, and slower loan origination due to the protracted lock down was moderated by a 264.7% spike in trading income.

He said growth in balance sheet was driven by a 26.5 percent growth in low cost funds, which saw the bank’s CASA mix improve to 71 percent from 60 percent, delivering a 6.6 percent growth in customer deposits. Our cash and short-term balances increased in line with the higher regulatory reserves while interest income also declined by 6.7 percent, which was offset by a 17.0 percent decline in interest expense. This delivered a 120 bps drop in cost of funds and, consequently, a 100-bps increase in net interest margin.

Suleiman noted that in terms of asset quality, “We proactively increased our cost of risk by 100 bps to 1.9%, while recording a marginal increase in NPL ratio to 2.9%, well below our target of 5%”

He explained that the decline in OPEX was achieved by moderating administrative expenses despite growth in other operating expenses, including AMCON and insurance fees

The CEO said the bank was able to maintain a strong capital and liquidity position of 16.1 percent and 32.5 percent respectively above regulatory benchmark, adding that overall the bank delivered a profit after tax of N7.37 billion for the 9-month period.

Sterling Bank Plc is a leading national commercial banking establishment in Nigeria. It commenced operations as NAL Bank in 1960. Today, with over N1 trillion in total assets, 160 business offices and over 800 ATMs nationwide, Sterling Bank has grown into a major financial institution. The Bank prides itself as ‘Your one-customer bank’ that celebrates each customer as a unique individual. For further information,

First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider has announced its variant account products – KidsFirst and MeFirst – created to encourage the right savings culture among children from 0 – 17 years. The offerings have relevant enhancements including appropriate parental guidance and financial discipline for children as they grow into adulthood. Both accounts can be opened with zero balance and operated with a minimum balance of N100.00.

KidsFirst Account is designed for children between the ages of 0 and 12 years to sensitise them on how exciting saving can be. The account comes with a trendy gift item for the child when the account is opened with a minimum of N10,000.00. The account is automatically transited to MeFirst account when the child is 13 years old.

MeFirst account, on the other hand, is designed for teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17. This account is created in recognition of the need to help teenagers embrace the culture of financial responsibility and cashless payment as they develop into young adults. They have access to attractive and trendy pre-paid cards through which parents/guardians can credit weekly/monthly allowance and monetary gifts. MeFirst account holders can select from 5 exciting card design options that suites their trendy style.

The Mefirst cards are enabled to pay for micro online shopping as desired - mobile games, apple music, Spotify and local POS transactions as well. Teens are thereby exposed to the cashless culture and electronic payment activities early in life, which is expedient in today’s digital age. Parents and guardians of the child are granted access to track and control the spend pattern.

Speaking on the accounts, Gbenga Shobo, FirstBank’s Deputy Managing Director said, “we are delighted with the role we play in promoting financial literacy amongst children and teenagers in the country. Our KidsFirst and MeFirst accounts are designed to ensure that parents and guardians are able to have their wards exposed to the right savings culture and financial discipline as they evolve to adulthood.”

“With these accounts, parents are able to save and strengthen their preparedness for various financial obligations of their children like paying for school fees as they progress with their academic pursuit which is pivotal to securing the future of the children. MeFirst and KidsFirst accounts are essential gifts from parents to their children”.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) chairman, Tony Elumelu has earned Belgium’s oldest and most important national honour, as he was conferred with the honourary distinction of Officer in the Order of Leopold.