Guaranty Trust Bank Plc on Friday said it recorded over N1 trillion transactions via the bank’s 737 payment and service delivery platform.
The bank’s Managing Director, Mr Segun Agbaje, said this at the bank’s 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.
Agbaje said that the bank was leading the future of payments and service delivery with the 737 platform it introduced a year ago.
The bank’s 737 platform is a USSD-based service delivery channel that provides simple banking for every Nigerian through mobile phones.
The bank boss said “within a year of the introduction of the service, the bank recorded an uptake of over three million customers, with over N1 trillion in transaction on the platform.”
He added that the platform had gained ubiquitous acceptance and global recognition.
He noted that the bank would continue to make its banking processes and touch points simpler, easier and faster, irrespective of customers’ location.
The bank’s Chairman, Mrs Osaretin Demuren, attributed the growth during the review period to steady increase of subsidiaries across Africa.
Demuren said GTBank Gambia and GTBank Sierra Leone emerged the most profitable banks in their respective countries.
She assured shareholders that the bank was well positioned to leverage opportunities that existed in the industry and deliver strong and sustainable returns.
The bank posted a profit before tax of N165. 14 billion for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2016.
The profit represented a growth of 37 per cent, compared with N120.69 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015.
The bank’s gross earnings for the review period grew by 37 per cent to N414.62 billion from N301.85 billion reported in December 2015.
The bank’s loan book grew by 16 per cent to N1.59 trillion from N1.37 trillion achieved in the preceding year, while total deposits increased by 29 per cent to N2.11 trillion from N1.637 trillion in 2015.
The bank’s balance sheet remained strong with a 19.7 per cent growth in total assets and contingents as the bank closed the year with total assets and contingents of N3.70 trillion and shareholders’ funds of N504.9 billion.
Shareholders at the meeting approved a final dividend of N1.75 per share in addition to interim dividend of 25k per unit of ordinary share, bringing total dividend for 2016 financial year to N2 per share. (NAN)
JNC/HA