Shareholders Laud Wema Bank Board’s Impressive Gender Diversity

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The inclusion of five females in the 11-man board of directors of Wema Bank Plc has been applauded by shareholders of the financial institution.

At the 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank held in Lagos on Thursday, May 22, 2025, shareholders said the impressive gender diversity should be emulated by others.

The national coordinator of the Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mrs Bisi Bakare, while speaking at the gathering, said, “On gender inclusion, I would also like to commend Wema Bank for an impressive gender diversity on the board with five out of 11 directors being female, representing a remarkable 38 per cent ratio.”

She also commended the lender for its “outstanding performance despite the challenging macroeconomic performance.”

“Furthermore, I want to seriously commend the succession plan of Wema Bank, and the board for achieving 100 per cent attendance in meetings, which shows a full commitment on their part,” she added.

Similarly, shareholders expressed a vote of confidence in Wema Bank for its proactive approach to employee well-being and its outstanding performance.

While addressing investors at the AGM, the chairman of Wema Bank, Oluwayemisi Olorunshola, thanked the shareholders, employees, regulators, partners and other stakeholders for their continued support and contributions to the bank’s outstanding performance, reiterating the company’s commitment to sustaining the upward surge in its performance in the decades to come.

On his part, the chief executive of the financial institution, Mr Moruf Oseni, promised that Wema Bank would “continue to deliver best-in-class financial solutions, invest in second-to-none technology.”

He stated that after the conclusion of the N150 billion rights issue, which ended on May 21, 2025, the board would seek another N50 billion through private placement for next month, Business Post gathered.

“At the end of it all, what we expect is that Wema Bank will have qualifying capital slightly north of N267 billion, which allows us to sustain the resilient and robust franchise that we have built together, to keep Wema Bank thriving as a force to be reckoned with in the industry.

“Wema Bank stands strong at 80 and in the decades to come, I can assure you that the growth we are experiencing today, is just a tip of the iceberg,” Mr Oseni concluded.

Last year, grew its gross earnings by 91.51 per cent to N432.34 billion from N225.75 billion in 2023, with post-tax profit rising by 140.13 per cent to N86.29 billion from N35.93 billion, and customer deposits up by 35.65 per cent to N2.524 trillion from N1.861 trillion, driven by improvement in retail deposits.

During the period, its Non-Performing Loan (NPL) rate went down to 3.86 per cent amid a growth in loans to customers by 49.94 per cent to N1.201 trillion from the N801.10 billion recorded in 2023.

With earnings per share (EPS) of 483.2 Kobo and an impressive profit, the company paid a dividend of N1 per share to shareholders.