TheCable

Sterling Bank has reported a profit after tax of N8.5 billion for 2017, as against N5.2billion for the corresponding period in 2016.

The spike represents a 65 percent increase in profitability. The solid performance was driven by growth in interest and non-interest income.

Gross earnings increased to N133.5 billion as against N111.4bn in 2016.

The bank said its net operating income rose by 7.9 percent while cost-to-income ratio improved by 260 basis points to 71.5 percent.

Customer deposits increased by 17.1 percent to N684.8 billion as against N584.7 billion in 2016 while overall shareholders’ funds grew by 20.2 percent to N102.9 billion as against N85.7 billion in 2016.

“Our 2017 result highlights positive performance across key financial indices despite challenging operating conditions, reaffirming our underlying institutional strength,” said Abubakar Suleiman, chief executive officer of the bank.

“The non-interest banking business continued to gain significant traction, adding positively to our bottom-line. This performance underscores the commitment of the entire team to our corporate goals and the resilience of our business model.

“Sterling Bank continued to scale its business with support from a well-diversified funding base. For the first time, we recorded N1.1 trillion in total assets from N834.2 billion in 2016 representing a 28.7% growth. We also gained traction in our retail drive with an active customer base that exceeded three million resulting in 17.1% growth in deposits.”

The bank says its liquidity and capital adequacy ratios remained sound and well above the required regulatory benchmark.

“In 2018, we will continue to execute our plans to drive efficiency across the business under the three pillars of agility, digitization and specialization,” Abubakar said.

“These pillars will propel us toward sustainable growth by enhancing our ability to innovate; solidify our retail funding base; strengthen our enterprise-wide risk management framework and drive excellent service delivery across all channels to enhance customer experience.”