Five Banks Spend N4.2bn on Directors in Six Months

By Adedapo Adesanya

Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), United Bank for Africa (UBA), and First Bank, all termed as ZAGUF Banks by Business Post, and are operating in the tier-one category in the banking sector in Nigeria, spent the total sum of N4.181 billion on their director between the months of January and June, 2019.

This was discovered by an investigation carried out by Business Post recently on the five ZAGUF banks. This figure was obtained from the half year audited financial statements of these lenders in the period under review.

In the first six months of this year, a total of N1.6 billion was spent on the directors of Zenith Bank, who according to the company, are 12 in numbers. This amount was 138.1 percent more than the N672 million paid as emoluments in the same period of 2018.

A further scrutiny showed that the sum of N1.325 billion was used as executive compensation in H1 2019, higher than the N539 million in H1 2018, while N275 million was used as fees and sitting allowances for the Zenith Bank directors, higher than the N133 million in the corresponding period of last year.

As for Guaranty Trust Bank, it spent a total of N424.7 million on its directors between the first six months of this year, 16.0 percent higher than HY 2018 figures of N366.2 million.

According to the financial statements of First Bank Plc, it paid a total of N1.377 billion to its directors in the same period under review, an increase by 21.5 percent from N1.133 billion it used on these few executives of the financial group in the first half year of 2018. The bank was the second after Zenith Bank to pay the highest amount to their directors.

As for Access Bank, which merged with the defunct Diamond Bank Plc during the half year, it categorized its as board of directors expenses, which stood at N762.2 million in H1 2019 against N641.5 million in H1 2018, indicating an increase by 18.8 percent or N120.7 million.

On the part of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, its financial statements indicated that the sum of N18 million spent as directors’ fees, 38.5 percent higher than the N13 million used for the same purpose in the first six months of last year.

A further analysis of the company’s books showed that the sum of N2.757 billion was used for business travels, lower than the N4.110 billion spent in the same period of 2018.

In total, these five tier-one ZAGUF banks in Nigeria spent the sum of N4.2 billion on their directors in the first half of 2019, higher than the N2.8 billion it expended in the same period of 2018, representing an increase by 50 percent.