Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The board of Wema Bank Plc has sustained the culture of dividend payout to shareholders since the resumption of cash rewards a few years ago.
Recall that for many years, the banking firm did not pay dividends to investors, but after the management team normalised things, and paid the first dividend in 14 years in 2019 for the 2018 financial year.
For the 2022 fiscal year, the company has proposed to pay a cash reward of 30 Kobo after it delivered a stellar performance as it continues its evolution into an unrivalled market leader and efficient bank.
Business Post reports that if approved by the shareholders at its forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), it would be the biggest dividend payout the innovative bank is paying to date.
A look at the lender’s financial performance last year showed that gross earnings improved by 42.3 per cent to N131.08 billion from the N92.14 per cent posted in 2021.
The results, which showed positive fundamentals across the board, revealed a growth of 44.7 per cent year-on-year in interest income to N106.07 billion from N73.30 billion, as non-interest income shot up by 32.8 per cent to N25.01 billion from N18.83 billion.
Similarly, the bank’s profit before tax grew to an all-time high of N14.74 billion from N12.38 billion, while customer deposits went up by 26 per cent to N1.166 trillion from N927.47 billion in 2021, with the loans and advances growing by 24 per cent to N521.43 billion from N418.86 billion.
The impressive results showed that total assets hit N1.434 trillion as against N1.165 trillion, a growth of 23 per cent, as shareholders’ funds moved up by 17 per cent to N82.62 billion from N70.36 billion.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, while commenting on the results, said, “Our 2022 results show the result of the careful execution of our medium-term strategy as we have deliberately focused on deepening on offerings to the corporate, commercial and retail segments of the market using our digital channels while ensuring best-in-class customer experience platforms to deliver improvements across all customer touch points. We expect the bottom line to improve even further in 2023.”
Also speaking, the Chief Finance Officer, Mr Tunde Mabawonku, explained that the bank’s continuous investment in the digital space had positioned it as one of the leaders in providing digital banking services to individuals and corporates across the country.
“It has been a good full-year performance for Wema Bank with gross earnings growing by 42.3 per cent year on year and earnings by share at 87 Kobo,” Mr Mabawonku said, adding that, “We have also succeeded in making Wema Bank an integral part of the fintech ecosystem in the country with our ubiquitous fintech infrastructure support play,”
