Access Bank Board Okays Dividend Payment to Shareholders

By Dipo Olowookere

Shareholders of Access Bank Plc will receive dividend for the 2019 financial year, the board of the financial institution has confirmed.

At a meeting held on Monday, the board of directors of the company approved the payment of this cash reward to members of the firm from the profit made in the fiscal year.

A disclosure from Access Bank said apart from this, the board, after looking into the books, also approved the financial statements of the lender for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Though the amount to be paid to shareholders as final dividend was not disclosed, Access Bank said it will submit the results to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the banking sector watchdog, for approval before releasing them to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

“We refer to our announcement dated January 24, 2020 via which we informed the exchange and the investing public of the bank’s board meeting scheduled for February 10, 2020.

“We write to inform you that the board of directors of the bank met today, February 10, 2020 and approved inter alia the group’s audited financial statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2019 and the payment of a final dividend.

“Consequently, the audited financial statements will be submitted to the Central Bank of Nigeria for approval in line with regulation after which it will be submitted to the exchange,” the disclosure signed by the Company Secretary, Mr Sunday Ekwochi, stated.

Access Bank has the culture of paying dividends to its shareholders. The lender has been very consistent in doing this and it is one of the most liquid stocks at the stock market because of its fundamentals, which investors find very attractive.

The bank is one of the top financial institutions in Nigeria and has operations outside the country, mainly in other African countries. Recently, the bank acquired a top lender in East Africa, Transnational Bank Plc, which is based in Kenya.