FINANCE

After 41% Gross Earnings In 2023 Q1 And N100.47B Shareholders Dividends, Zenith Bank Retains ‘Best Corporate Governance Financial Services’ In Africa 4th Consecutive Year

<h4>After 41&percnt; Gross Earnings In 2023 Q1<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that for the fourth consecutive year&comma; Zenith Bank Plc has been named as the Best Corporate Governance &&num;8216&semi;Financial Services&&num;8217&semi; Africa 2023 by the Ethical Boardroom&period; The award&comma; which was published in the Spring 2023 edition of The Ethical Boardroom magazine&comma; is in recognition of the bank’s adherence to global best practices and institutionalization of corporate governance&comma; setting an industry-wide example of best practices in that field&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking on the recognition&comma; the Group Managing Director&sol;Chief Executive of Zenith Bank Plc&comma; Dr&period; Ebenezer Onyeagwu&comma; said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I am extremely pleased that Zenith Bank has been awarded the Ethical Boardroom Corporate Governance Award as a regional governance champion for the fourth year running&period; No doubt&comma; the bank’s board has pioneered the exemplary governance culture for which we are now renowned&period; Indeed&comma; this recognition reflects our steadfast commitment&comma; discipline and high ethos in the conduct of our business and dedication to the principles of good corporate governance&period; This award will motivate us to strengthen this culture internally and advocate for good governance at every forum&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He dedicated the award to the Founder and Group Chairman&comma; Jim Ovia&comma; CFR&comma; for providing the template for an enduring and very successful institution&semi; the Board for their vision and outstanding leadership&semi; the staff for their dedication and commitment&semi; and the bank’s customers for their unwavering loyalty to the brand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ethical Boardroom is a trailblazing and leading international magazine that delivers in-depth coverage and critically-astute analysis of global corporate governance issues to help boards stay ahead of the governance curve&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Bank&comma; at the 32nd Annual General Meeting &lpar;AGM&rpar; which held on Tuesday&comma; 2 May 2023&comma; shareholders of the bank unanimously approved the proposed final dividend payment of NGN2&period;90 per share&period; This brought the total dividend for the 2022 financial year to NGN3&period;20 per share&comma; with a total value of NGN100&period;47 billion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In his opening statement at the AGM&comma;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;mail&period;yahoo&period;com&sol;"> Jim Ovia&comma; CFR&comma; Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc&comma; expressed his gratitude to the shareholders for their unwavering loyalty&comma;commitment&comma; and support&comma; which have been instrumental in the bank’s outstanding performance since its inception<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Group Managing Director&sol;Chief Executive&comma; Dr&period; Ebenezer Onyeagwu&comma; extolled the Founder and Chairman&comma; Jim Ovia&comma; CFR&comma; for establishing the legacy and providing the template for the bank’s continued superior performance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also highlighted the Board and Management’s determination to maintain the bank’s growth trajectory in the coming years&comma; with an emphasis on digital and retail banking&period;Speaking at the AGM&comma; Dr&period; Faruk Umar&comma; President of the Association of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders &lpar;AARNS&rpar;&comma; commended the Board and Management of Zenith Bank for consistently delivering value to shareholders&comma; despite the challenging economic environment&period; He also praised the bank’s staff for their loyalty and dedication&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also&comma; in April 2023 Zenith Bank announced its unaudited results for the first quarter ending 31st March2023&comma; with an exceptional double-digit growth of 41&percnt; in Gross Earnings&comma; increasing from₦191&period;5 billion in Q1 2022 to ₦270 billion in Q1 2023&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The unaudited statement of account submitted to the Nigerian Exchange &lpar;NGX&rpar; on 28thApril 2023&comma; indicated that the significant double-digit growth in the top line also boosted the bottom line&comma; with the Group experiencing an impressive 27&percnt; year-on-year &lpar;YoY&rpar; increase in Profit Before Tax &lpar;PBT&rpar;&comma; rising from ₦68 billion in Q1 2022 to ₦86&period;6 billion in Q1 2023&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Profit After Tax &lpar;PAT&rpar; also grew by 13&percnt; from ₦58&period;2 billion to ₦66 billion during the same period&period;The growth in the top line was propelled by substantial increases in both interest income and non-interest income&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Interest income surged by 52&percnt; from ₦126&period;4 billion in Q1 2022 to ₦191&period;6billion in Q1 2023&comma; while non-interest income expanded by 27&percnt; from ₦57&period;2 billion to ₦72&period;8billion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The growth in interest income can be attributed to the impact of risk asset repricing&comma;while the increase in non-interest income primarily resulted from loan recoveries and foreign currency revaluation gains&period;Regarding efficiency&comma; the cost-to-income ratio improved from 55&percnt; to 53&period;4&percnt; in the current period&comma; supported by a bolstered income line&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The cost of risk also moderated from 0&period;8&percnt; to0&period;7&percnt; during the same period due to an enlarged loan book&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma; the cost of funding doubled YoY from 1&period;3&percnt; in Q1 2022 to 2&period;7&percnt; in Q1 2023&comma; owing to a considerable spike in interest rates between both periods as interest expense grew from ₦25&period;8 billion in Q1 2022 to₦70&period;8 billion in Q1 2023&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This impacted the net interest margin &lpar;NIM&rpar;&comma; which reduced from7&period;3&percnt; to 6&period;9&percnt; over the same period&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Total assets expanded by 9&percnt; from ₦12&period;29 trillion in December 2022 to ₦13&period;36 trillion in March 2023&comma; primarily driven by growth in customer deposits and other funding sources&comma; such as borrowings&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Customer deposits increased by 2&percnt; from ₦8&period;98 trillion in December 2022 to₦9&period;14 trillion in March 2023&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Loans and advances also experienced marginal growth of 1&percnt; from ₦4&period;12 trillion in December2022 to ₦ 4&period;15 trillion in March 2023 as customers continued to adjust to the full impact of higher rates on risk assets&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Both the capital adequacy and liquidity ratios remained robust at19&period;5&percnt; and 72&percnt;&comma; respectively&comma; with both prudential ratios comfortably exceeding regulatory thresholds&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma; Zenith Bank has been generally adjudged a Corporate Governance compliant bank by the Nigerian Exchange &lpar;NGX&rpar; hence its listing on the Premium Board of the Exchange&period; The bank continues to sustain this reputation and reappraise its processes to ensure that its business conforms to the highest global standards at all times&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The bank’s track record of excellent performances has continued to earn it numerous awards including being recognised as the Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital&comma; for the 13th consecutive year&comma; in the 2022 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine&semi; Bank of the Year &lpar;Nigeria&rpar; in The Banker&&num;8217&semi;s Bank of the Year Awards 2020 and 2022&semi; Best Bank in Nigeria&comma; for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022&comma; in the Global Finance World&&num;8217&semi;s Best Banks Awards&semi; Best Commercial Bank&comma; Nigeria 2021 and 2022 in the World Finance Banking Awards&semi; Best Corporate Governance Bank&comma; Nigeria in the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2022&semi; Best Commercial Bank&comma; Nigeria and Best Innovation In Retail Banking&comma; Nigeria in the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also&comma; the bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021&comma; and Retail Bank of the year&comma; for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022&comma; at the BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions &lpar;BAFI&rpar; Awards&period; Similarly&comma; Zenith Bank was named as Bank of the Decade &lpar;People&&num;8217&semi;s Choice&rpar; at the ThisDay Awards 2020&comma; Bank of the Year 2021 by Champion Newspaper&comma; Bank of the Year 2022 by New Telegraph Newspaper&comma; and Most Responsible Organisation in Africa 2021 by SERAS Awards&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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