New Zenith Bank GMD Unveils Plans for Shareholders

By Dipo Olowookere

Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc have been assured by the new Group Managing Director, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, of a better and more transparent entity.

Mr Onyeagwu, who was at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week, promised to continue to build on the sustainable structure left behind by his predecessors, ensuring continuous growth and improved returns to shareholders.

“We will do everything within us to elevate the strong value and the excellent performance that the bank has been known with.

“Under the new leadership, we will delivered outstanding performance, reward our shareholders, provide strong timely disclose to the market,” Mr Onyeagwu assured the investing community.

He said while the management may not be able to immediately predict the outcomes of many headwinds in the banking sector and the overall economy, it was certain that the bank will predictably deliver impressive results.

However, he assured that the bank would continue to invest in cutting-edge technology to boost its digital banking, which remains a priority.

Commenting on the new loan-to-deposit ratio of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the banker said the policy will not negatively impact the banking sector.

According to him, increased loans and more effective credit risk management will result in greater benefits for the banking sector and the general economy.

He noted that the policy will facilitate lending to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector as well as the retail sector of the economy, which will bring positive impact to the overall economy.

He pointed out that while the attitudes of some borrowers have been major impediments to lending, improved technology in the banking sector has helped to reduce the tendency to serial loan defaulters.

“With the BVN, this has help in solving the problem of identity and the Banker’s Committee is working on building stronger capability into that.

“The capability that will enable us enforce very effective and tight credit control such that if a customer takes a loan from Bank A and abandoned it and go to Bank B to open account, with the BVN, such customer can be traced.

“If the customer is owning Bank A N1 million and go to Bank B to  open an account and deposit N2 million, electronically, the system will recover the money from the debtor. We believe this will help drive decent behaviour and promote good credit borrowers,” Mr Onyeagwu said.