By Chioma Obinagwam
Guaranty Trust Bank’s electronic channel (e-channel) has given a boost to its deposit base, trippling it to 9.68 million customers in December 31, 2016 from what it was in December 31, 2011.
The Managing Director of the bank, Segun Shushed, disclosed this at its 27th Annual General Meeting(AGM) held in Lagos at the weekend.
“As a result of this approach, our customer base has tripled over the last five years to 9.68 million customers as at December 31, 2016, and we have also seen tremendous growth in customers’ adoption of our digital services,” he said.
Mr. Agbaje noted that the growth was the result of its strategy to continuously make banking processes and touch points simpler, easier and faster, irrespective of where and when customers choose to bank.
He noted that in its attempt to achieve the objective, it has enabled the bank improve customer experience across all touch points.
“This has enabled us improve the customer experience across all our touch points; from expanding the range of functionally we offer on our interest, mobile and USSD banking platforms, to ensuring better experience in our branches and providing more intelligent Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to allow customers save time through efficient self-service,” he enumerated.
Mr. Agbaje, who is also the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of group, said it intends to consolidate its achievement by moving beyond its traditional role as enablers of financial transactions and providers of financial products, to playing a deeper role in the digital and commercial lives of customers through its collaboration with FinTech companies.
In the same vein, the bank declared a dividend per share payout of N2 to its shareholders, also ratified by them at the AGM.
A breakdown of the dividend payout showed an interim dividend of 25 kobo and a final dividend per share of N1.75; indicating a 13 per cent increase over N1.77 paid in 2015.
Inspire of has macro-economic indicators, the bankThe Bank in 2016 recorded significant growth with gross earnings gaining 37.4 per cent from N301.9 billion in 2015 to N414.6 billion in 2016 and, Profit Before Tax increasing by 36.8 per cent to N165.1 billion in 2016 from N120.7 billion in 2015.
Total assets as at December 2016 stood at N3.12 trillion, which represents a 23.4 per cent increase over the N2.52 trillion recorded in 2015 while loan and advances grew by 15.8 per cent to close at N1.59 trillion in 2016 from N1.37 trillion in 2015.
It also recorded a 23.3 per cent growth in customers’ deposits from N1.61 trillion in 2015 to N1.99 trillion in 2016.