By Dipo Olowookere
The board of Wema Bank Plc has announced the financial statements of the company for the first quarter of 2019.
The bank, going by the unaudited results, declared a profit after tax of N1.1 billion in Q1 2019 against the N764.7 million achieved in Q1 2018, while the profit before tax rose to N1.3 billion from N884 million a year ago.
The tier-two lender also improved its interest income during the period being reviewed, closing at N16.1 billion in Q1 2019 versus N12.7 billion in Q1 2018.
However, the company’s interest expense increased to N10.5 billion from N8.3 billion, while the personnel expenses skyrocketed to N3.3 billion from N2.8 billion in the same period of last year.
A further analysis of the financial statements showed that Wema Bank grew its net fee and commission income to N1.7 billion from N1.6 billion, while the net trading income rose to N1.9 billion from N1.4 billion, with the other income rising to N146.6 million from N118.5 million.
View the full financial statements HERE
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Adedapo Adesanya