Nigeria’s leading merchant banking brand, Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, has posted a strong performance in 2017, according to its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017.
Presenting the 2017 full year results to stakeholders at the Annual General Meeting held in Lagos, Group Managing Director/CEO of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, Abu Jimoh said the bank posted a Profit Before Tax of N5.1 billion during the period.
He noted that “despite the tough market conditions that characterized significant parts of the year, the underlying business fundamentals of the Bank remained strong as reflected in the Gross earnings growth of 66% to N25.5 billion in 2017.
“As we progress in our journey to become Africa’s premier Investment Bank, we remain committed to providing our clients with superior financial services whilst generating attractive and sustainable returns for shareholders.
“The impressive results of the bank in the last 3 years demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy, the quality of our past decisions and the commitment of our board & management to maximize shareholder value whilst actively expanding our franchise in select, high growth markets where we believe we have a competitive advantage,” he said.
According to him, Coronation MB Group recorded a notable improvement in key performance metrics in 2017, despite the tough and challenging operating environment.
Jimoh said, “Our interest income growth of 67% y/y and non-interest income growth of 57% in 2017re-affirm the sustainability of our core business growth. We will continue to gain momentum in our efforts to achieve more diversified earnings, as we strengthen our subsidiaries offerings.
“Our deliberate focus on the efficiency of our business operations has continued to yield considerable returns for the Bank. Despite the high inflation rate, Cost-to-income ratio increased marginally by 90bps to 46.1% (Dec 2016: 45.2%), reaffirming the Bank’s commitment to rein in costs while improving operating efficiency.”
According to him, aside from the strong earnings performance, the Group recorded a significant growth in its Balance Sheet in 2017. Total assets increased by 28% to N136.7bn from N106.6bn in December 2016, and shareholder’s funds increased to N29.5bn from N25.9bn – a valid testament to the resilience of the Group’s operations and its adaptability to current market realities and challenges.
“We will continue to maintain a disciplined and prudent approach in asset creation in line with our overall risk management framework and evidenced in our growth in loan book of 42% which increased from N22.7bn to N32.3bn with zero NPL.
“While general economic conditions and the regulatory environment remain tight, we believe that our new business and lending strategies, embedded risk management culture and continuous cost savings will enable us to stand firm throughout this period.
“In the coming years, we will focus on the disciplined implementation of our growth strategy to drive efficiency in all segments of our business leveraging fintech and process re-engineering,” he assured stakeholders.
Coronation Merchant Bank group was established to fill the gap in a long-underserved market segment, seeking to address the need for long-term capital across key sectors of the economy, and has two branches located in Abuja and Port Harcourt with its Head Office in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Group offers investment and corporate banking, private banking/wealth management and global markets/treasury services to its diverse clients. It also offers securities trading/brokerage, asset management and trustees services via its subsidiaries; Coronation Securities Limited, Coronation Asset Management Limited respectively.
