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Wema Bank Plc has defaulted in failing its 2017 audited financial statement for the year ended 31st December 2017, to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), citing no-obtaination of necessary approvals as reason for the delay.
In a statement of notice published on the NSE’s website, signed by the bank’s Chief Financial Officer CFO), Tunde Mabawonku, it explained that the failure to file the results arose from need to obtain approval before going ahead to publish its 12-months accounts and financial statements.
The statement reads in part “This is to notify our esteemed shareholders and other stakeholders about the delay in the filing of Wema Bank’s The delay arose from the need to obtain necessary approval before going ahead to publish our 12-months Accounts and Financial Statements. We expect to have our results released before the end of April 2018.”
It will be recalled that the bank released its nine months results ended September 30, 2017.
An x-ray of the financial health of the bank as at September 2017, showed that the financial institution posted 19.7 per cent growth in gross earnings to N45.38 billion from N37.8 billion in 2016. Interest income rose by 16.7 per cent, while non-interest income improved by 35.7 per cent. Profit before tax rose by 20.8 per cent to N1.80 billion from N1.49 billion, while profit after tax grew by 20.4 per cent to N1.53 billion, from N1.27 billion.
Commenting on the results, the Managing Director/CEO, Segun Oloketuyi said despite the economic conditions, Wema Bank continues to show signs of resilience, evidenced by its growing brand acceptance and increased customer patronage.
“Gross earnings grew by 16.79 per cent from N37.89 billion in Q3’2016 to N45.38 billion as at Q3’2017. This was supported by increased contribution from non-interest income which rose by 35.74 per cent. The high interest rate environment continued to impact earnings, as interest expense increased year on year. Despite this, the Bank recorded a growth in Profit before Tax (PBT) by 20.81 per cent. We expect that as interest rates trend downwards, our funding cost will decline, leading to improvements in our margins,” he said.
On the service delivery front, Wema Bank was recently ranked 8thposition in the annual KPMG industry customer service annual survey from 13th position in 2016, a development Oloketuyi said is a “further attestation of our processes, product & service offerings, which has afforded us increasing market penetration. We expect a top-5 finish by 2018, and we have begun working, to achieve this feat.”
According to him, the delivery on incremental innovations on ALAT remains a priority to them, with the roll-out of version 2.0 this last week.
“We believe the launch of ALAT 2.0 is a demonstration of our continued resolve to using technology and innovation – our key strategic determinants, in ensuring continued customer acquisition and reducing our cost to serve. Customer acquisition on ALAT remains strong, with an average of 30,000 opened monthly. We remain excited, as we remain on course to achieve the set year-end target of 350,000 accounts,” he added.
Shareholders had approved the bank’s Scheme of Capital Reorganisation at an extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) in Lagos.
The approval was said would give effect to the creation of a Capital Reduction Account (CRA), the transfer of negative balances in the retained revenue account to CRA to effectively setting-off these balances against the share premium account.
The exercise is expected to make shareholders alongside the investment community witness a more efficient balance sheet, improvements in the bank’s performance ratios as the plough back of successive years’ profits lead to the continued growth of the Wema brand. In addition, the Bank would also be well positioned to commence payment of dividend payments.
