By Dipo Olowookere
Chairman of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Asue Ighodalo, has hinted that the financial institution may change its operational structure into a holding entity.
Mr Ighodalo gave this indication at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the lender held in Lagos on Thursday.
He said this is one of the plans being considered by the management to reposition the company as a top class organisation in the country.
According to him, the new structure will allow its different subsidiaries operate under a parent company.
At the moment, only three banks operate under holding company structure and they are including First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated-a pan-African holding company is the parent company for Ecobank brand.
Speaking at the AGM, Mr Ighodalo said the bank remains committed to delivering solutions that satisfy stakeholders’ needs and objectives while also providing adequate financial returns to shareholders.
He pointed out that retaining a substantial amount of profit generated to strengthen available capital will be in the long-term best interest of shareholders.
“As a business, we will continue to innovate with focus on key growth sectors of the Nigerian economy that will enrich lives and grow the bottom-line.
“We will also continue to leverage on our areas of strength to drive sustainable growth and deliver superior returns to our esteemed shareholders,” he said.
On his part, Managing Director of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, said the bank’s 2017 financial year performance highlighted its underlying institutional strength despite delicate operating conditions.
He said, “We will continue to execute the plans to drive efficiency across the business under the three pillars of agility, digitization and specialization in the new financial year.
“These pillars will propel us toward sustainable growth by enhancing our ability to innovate; solidify our retail funding base; strengthen our enterprise-wide risk management framework and drive excellent service delivery across all channels to enhance customer experience.”
Business Post reports that under the banking regulatory regime introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2010, banks were required to concentrate fully on core banking functions.
The model required banks to either sell all non-core banking businesses or form a holding company to hold such non-core banking businesses including activities such as insurance, asset management and capital market operations. Most banks opted to sell or divest from non-core commercial banking businesses.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Aduragbemi Omiyale