Wema Bank reports a 3.01% increase in profit

Wema Bank plc has reported a 3.01 per cent increase in its unaudited result and accounts for full year ended December 31, 2020 Profit Before Tax (PBT) to N6.96billion as against N6.77billion PBT reported in audited full year result for the period ended December 31, 2019.

Our correspondent gathered that effective management of cost and increase in non-core banking operations drive PBT in the period under review.

The lender reported a 3.5 per cent decline in total operating expenses to N36 billion in 2020 as against N37.3billion reported in 2019 while other income grew significantly by 188.2per cent to N3.42billion in 2020 as against N1.19billion reported in 2019.

The results posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday revealed that the bank posted a 14.79 per cent decline in gross earnings to N80.85billion in 2020 as against N94.89billion reported in 2019.

Our correspondent also gathered that total assets for the period gained 38 per cent to N986.6billion as of December 2020 from N715.87billion reported in 2019.
Growth in total assets was by driven 27.5 per cent increase in loans and advances to customers to N368.75billion in 2020 from N289.2 billion reported in 2019 while, deposits from customers rose by 40.7 per cent to N812.1billion in 2020 from N577.28billion reported in 2019.

The Managing Director, Wema bank, Ademola Adebise had cautioned that economic headwinds of 2020 moderated its growth expectations.

He explained that “It is expected that the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 virus will be far reaching. As a Bank, we have also tried to play a role in supporting local and federal efforts in providing relief to those impacted directly and indirectly.

“This “new normal” has necessitated massive adoption of technology across the economy and we are glad that we have stayed ahead of the curve and our previous technology investments have continued to yield results.

“ALAT, Nigeria’s First Fully Digital Bank continues to record strong performance as adoption rates have grown and the customer base is almost at the half a million mark. We plan to continue our growth in customer acquisition and retention despite the headwinds.”