Posted by By SEUN ADESIDA on
Intercontinental Bank Plc has announced its financial results for the year ended February 2008, which shows a deposit base of N1.05 trillion, up by 126 per cent from N468 billion in the previous year. The total assets plus contingents rose to N1.7 trillion, up by 108 per cent from N823 billion, thus making the bank the first to hit the trillion mark in deposit and also giving it number one position in total assets.
…Leads deposit base at N1.05trillion
Intercontinental Bank Plc has announced its financial results for the year ended February 2008, which shows a deposit base of N1.05 trillion, up by 126 per cent from N468 billion in the previous year. The total assets plus contingents rose to N1.7 trillion, up by 108 per cent from N823 billion, thus making the bank the first to hit the trillion mark in deposit and also giving it number one position in total assets.
Financial analysts attribute the unprecedented growth in the bank's deposits portfolio to robust customer confidence. The customer base has been on the rise since post consolidation.
The bank also recorded a phenomenal growth in gross earnings which stood at N173.5 billion, an increase of 99 per cent over the N87.4 billion recorded in the previous year. Profit before tax grew by a whopping 102 per cent to N45.6 billion, as against N22.6 billion in 2007, while profit after tax soared by 125 per cent to N34.8billion during the period under review. The capital base also rose to N200 billion from N157 billion.
The sterling performance is due largely to the effective delivery of its business model introduced in 2006 to drive its businesses across geographical and sectoral divergence of the banking public.
Intercontinental Bank recently embarked upon a strategic repositioning drive to dominate retail markets across the country.
The Group Chief Executive, Dr. Erastus Akingbola said the exceptional performance represents a bold step in the bank's global strategy of benchmarking the best financial institution in the international arena while positioning to become the number one bank in Nigeria among top five in Africa and top 100 in the world by 2010.
Recently, Intercontinental Bank entered into a joint venture with Blue Financial Services Company, the number one micro finance institution in Africa with 171 branches spread across ten African countries to float Blue-Intercontinental Microfinance Bank.
Analysts said the bank's track record of superlative performance over the years puts it in good stead to achieve this target. Intercontinental Bank was ranked 355 in the world by the Financial Times of London, making it the only Nigerian Bank in the world's top 500 banks and the second fastest growing in the world in 2007.
Dr. Akingbola said the bank is poised to surpass this record. ‘‘We are encouraged by our drive, vision and capacity to double, year on year, all the performance indicators of the bank. We intend to beat our record, and we shall,'' he said.
Intercontinental Bank is one of the Nigeria's strongest brands. Its robust brand equity has been acquired over 18 years and resonates with a reputation for excellent customer service, superb financial performance and track record of exceptionally high returns on investments since inception.
The bank has evolved into one of the largest and most diversified financial services Group in Nigeria with about ten subsidiaries in all sub-sectors of the financial sector.
It also boasts one of the largest branch network spread across the country, linked by cutting-edge IT infrastructure. Currently, it has over 300 branches nationwide.