By Dipo Olowookere
The Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mr Yinka Sanni, has described the performance of the company in the 2019 financial year as impressive.
Last week, the company released its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the firm, a member of Standard Bank Group, declared a profit after tax of N75 billion, representing an increase over its year end 2018 profit after tax of N74.4 billion.
Also, profit before tax for the year ended December 31, 2019 was N90.9 billion, representing a 3 percent increase over 2018 figures which stood at N88.2 billion.
In addition, the company’s non-interest revenue also grew by 6 percent to N108.8 billion in 2019, from N102.6 billion which it recorded in 2018.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc also reported growth in its total operating income, from N180.8 billion in 2018, to N186.6 billion in 2019, representing a 3 percent increase.
As at December 31, 2019, the total assets of the Stanbic IBTC Group stood at N1.876 trillion, reflecting a 13 percent increase, when compared to the value of the assets which was N1.663 trillion as at December 2018.
According to Mr Sanni, “Our financial results were largely in line with market guidance. We achieved double digit growth in both assets under management (AuM) and loans.”
The Stanbic IBRC chief said, “Loan-to-deposit ratio was 67.5 percent, above the regulatory minimum of 65 percent as at December 31, 2019. Non-performing loans ratio was 3.9 percent, similar level with prior year and within acceptable limit of 5 percent.”
Highlighting some of the growth areas in the full year audited group results, he noted that, “The Group’s total assets grew by 13 percent aided by the growth in loans and financial investments portfolio.”
“Our Personal & Business Banking division contributed to profit yet again with a significant improvement in profit after tax year-on-year. Cost of risk was 0.2 percent compared to the writeback in prior year due to a non-occurrence of a significant recovery, however, it is still well below our guidance of 3 percent.
“Our sustained focus on cost containment coupled with revenue growth during the year yielded an improvement in cost-to-income ratio of 50.4 percent from 52.9 percent in 2018,” he added.
While acknowledging that the regulatory and economic environment could sometimes be challenging, he stated that the company remained resolute in its target to emerge as Nigeria’s leading end-to-end financial solutions provider.
“While we look to 2020 with great optimism, we are fully aware of the challenging macro-economic and regulatory headwinds that we must contend with as we enter a new decade.
“Nonetheless, our strategic journey towards becoming the leading end-to-end financial solutions provider by 2023 continues as we leverage our universal capabilities whilst focusing on cost management, digitisation and client centricity in accelerating growth in 2020,” he stated.
Stanbic IBTC continues to benefit from its adoption of a digital strategy as well as operating a Holdings company structure which enables subsidiaries to cross-sell and also leverage expertise within the Group.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale