Sterling Bank Plc on Tuesday announced gross earnings of N152.2 billion for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2018.
The gross earnings were higher by 14.09 per cent when compared with N133.4 billion declared for the corresponding period of 2017.
Its profit after tax stood at N9.2 billion against N8.5 billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2017.
The bank, in a statement, said the performance affirmed the potency of its medium to long-term strategy.
Commenting on the financial performance, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, Chief Executive Officer of the bank, said, “Our 2018 performance demonstrated our commitment to the race we set out on at the beginning of the year.
“We continued to identify more with our strategic pillars- agility, digitisation and specialization- enabling us to set the stage for positive and sustainable growth across the business.
“Our investments in people and technology platforms drove significant traction in the retail and consumer segment, in line with our medium to long term goals.
“Overall, the bank delivered a 14.9 per cent growth in profit after tax to N9.2 billion,” Suleiman said.
He said that consumer loans were up by 108.3 per cent driven by SPECTA-Nigeria’s leading lending digital platform.
Suleiman said that mobile channel usage grew over 80 by per cent following the launch of Sterling OnePay, an omni-channel mobile banking platform as transaction volumes doubled on the instant payment platform.
Suleiman said the bank increased its financing efforts in the agriculture sector which accounted for 10 per cent of its loan book.
He said this was in line with the bank’s commitment to sectors that would create jobs, improve living standards and bring about economic growth.
According to him, the bank maintained a healthy capital and liquidity position at 13.3 per cent and 42.2 per cent respectively, on account of additional tier two capital injection.
On future prospects, Abubakar said: “We would maintain a more customer-centric approach to achieving growth and strive to scale our digital products.
“Specifically, we will further diversify our loan book by targeting 20 per cent share to Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation- our HEART sectors,’’ he said.
According to him, Sterling Bank will increase access to loans for a wider customer base through other exciting variants of SPECTA and further decentralise the investment market through digital platforms.
The bank refocuses its corporate and investment banking segment with emphasis on providing innovative solutions to key corporates and banking the value chain.
