Zenith Bank Plc has clearly affirmed its position as the largest Tier-1 bank in Nigeria. This emerged on on Monday with the release of its full year 2017 results.
The bank’s audited accounts presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that its gross earnings rose by 47 per cent from N508 billion in 2016 to N745.19 billion in 2017.
Hence, Zenith’s profit before tax (PBT) and profit after tax (PAT) witnessed a growth of 30 per cent and 37 per cent year-on-year, respectively, to N203.46 billion and N177.93 billion, up from NN156.75 billion and N129.7 billion, respectively.
Its assets and liability management strategies resulted in a 23 per cent increase in interest income from N384.6 billion in 2016 to N474.6 billion for the year ending December 31, 2017.
Its audited results also showed that the bank posted an asset base of N5.6 trillion, an increase of 18 per cent over the N4.74 trillion recorded for the same period in 2016.
Zenith strategically switch assets in favour of high yielding asset classes and was also able to optimally price its assets and liabilities in a high yield environment. Non-interest income also jumped by 119 per cent from N123.4 billion as at December 2016 to N270.6 billion driven by the bank’s ability to take advantage of its strong foreign currency liquidity to generate income.
Impressed by the good showing, market analysts have said the result was a demonstration of the ability of the bank to innovate and create impressive value from the resources available to it.
Zenith Bank has continued to maintain a solid and high-quality capital position with a capital adequacy ratio at 27 per cent, well above the statutory requirement of 15 per cent, effectively providing room for further growth and strong and consistent dividend payout.
The bank has also maintained an excellent liquidity position with a liquidity ratio of 70 per cent, remaining strong and well above the regulatory requirement of 30 per cent.
Consistent with this performance and in recognition of its record of consistent accomplishment, the bank was recently honoured with The Bank of the Year Award by BusinessDay and Best Bank in Customer Service in a KPMG Survey. The bank was also recently recognised as the Best Corporate Governance Bank in Nigeria by The World Finance for the fifth time. Ethical Boardroom, a European-based boardroom watchdog, reaffirmed this recognition by naming Zenith the Best Bank in Corporate Governance in 2017. The Banker Magazine ranked Zenith Bank as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in 2017.
