The appointment of Miriam Olusanya, as the managing director of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) by the parent company, GTCO Plc has broken the bank’s gender leadership structure for being the first female managing director ever since the bank existed.
With over 23 year’s banking experience that cuts across transaction services, asset and liability management, financial markets, investment banking and investor relations, Olusanya has positioned herself to deal with emerging competition in the industry.
Guaranty Trust Bank remains the most attractive way to gain exposure to Nigerian banks, even as the landscape becomes increasingly competitive, according to Coronation Asset Management.
Read Also: GTBank appoints Miriam Olusanya as managing director
Olusanya holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria And a Master of Business Administration (Finance and Accounting) from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. Olusanya has also attended several executive management and banking specific developmental programs in leading educational institutions around the world.
Olusanya serves as a non-executive director on the Board of Guaranty Trust Bank (Gambia) Limited. She is also a member of the financial markets sub-committee of the bankers’ committee, the primary interactive policy platform made up of the Central Bank and banks.
Olusanya was the group treasurer and head, wholesale banking division, responsible for balance sheet and financial markets activities of the bank and its African subsidiaries, corporate finance as well as investor relations.
Olusnay joined GTBank as an executive trainee and rose through the ranks until her appointment as an executive director in 2018, a position she held until her appointment as managing director.
Though not immune from Nigeria’s macro challenges, the company has delivered consistently strong results and superior returns compared with peers.
“The bank is currently being restructured into a Holdco, which we think will provide strategic flexibility and the opportunity to diversify the group’s revenues and better position the bank to deal with emerging competition,” Ope Ani and Guy Czartoryski of Coronation Research, said in a recent published banking sector report.
Guaranty Trust Bank has maintained strong asset quality consistently during the last four years and, in the analysts view, has the capital buffers to withstand significant shocks.
The bank’s Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio ranged from 6.4 percent to 7.4 percent in full year (FY) 2017-2020, with substantial loan growth, and in the case of FY20, regulatory forbearance offset[1]ting the increase in gross NPLs.
In the 2021 estimate (2021E), the analysts do not anticipate a significant deterioration in asset quality, with the cost of risk expected to print 1.1 percent and NPL ratio to come in at 6.3 percent.
“We do not expect aggressive risk-asset creation in the near term due to the current weak macro environment. However, with Guaranty’s strong capital capacity, it is well-positioned to grow quality loans. We forecast loan growth of 9.0 percent in 2021E (2022E-2024E: 5.7 percent on average), which we expect to support interest income”.
Guaranty Trust Bank reported its FY2020 numbers in March 2021 with a 4.6 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) growth in gross earnings to N455.2 billion compared to N435.3 billion in FY2019. The robust growth in gross earnings was principally driven by a 37.7 percent YoY spurt in other income offset by a decline in interest income on cash and cash equivalent (by 56.3%) and a 14.8 percent drop in fee and commission income. Net interest income rose 9.6 percent YoY, primarily driven by interest income on financial assets at Fair Value through Profit or Loss (FVPL) (+174.0% YoY) and reduced interest expense (-27.4% YoY).
Aiming to strengthen its long-term competitiveness and growth prospects, Guaranty Trust Bank plc has completed its re-organisation to a Holding Company Structure.
Under the terms of the re-organisation, a new operating company has been established and amendments made to the articles of incorporation for a corporate name change. The corporate name of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc and GTCO Plc will be used by the newly established operating company.
The newly established Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc is also pleased to announce its new Board of Directors as well as changes to the Board of its banking subsidiary, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited. All the appointments have been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria and disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Exchange Group.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO Plc) will be governed by a Board of Directors comprising, Sola Oyinlola as Chairman of the Board and Segun Agbaje as the Group Chief Executive Officer, Adebanji Adeniyi as Executive Director, Cathy Echeozo as Non-Executive Director, Suleiman Barau and Helen Bouygues as Independent Non-Executive Directors.
The Banking subsidiary, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited will be governed by a Board of Directors comprising, Ibrahim Hassan as Chairman of the Board, Miriam Olusanya as managing Director, Jide Okuntola as Deputy Managing Director, Haruna Musa as Executive Director, Olabode Agusto as Independent Non-Executive Director, Imoni Akpofure and Victoria Adefala as Independent Non-Executive Directors.
Prior to its corporate reorganization to Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc has been at the forefront of delivering innovative banking products and services to customers and best-in-class Return-on-Equity to shareholders.
It is widely regarded as the best managed financial institution in Nigeria and has, over the past decade, embarked on a period of unparalleled growth, growing its customer base from less than 3 million customers in 2011 to over 24million customers in 2020, and profit before tax from N45.5 billion at the end of the 2010 financial year to N238.1billion at the end of the 2020 financial year.
Commenting on the completion of the corporate reorganization, Segun Agbaje, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, said: We believe that a Holding Company Structure will allow us to take advantage of new business opportunities in the emerging competitive landscape and strengthen our earnings base. We are very excited to get started on the next phase of our incredible journey to driving Africa’s growth by making end-to-end financial services easily accessible to every African and African Businesses by leveraging Technology and Strategic Partnerships. As a bank, we were always looking to meet every customer need; with our corporate reorganization, we will be able to do more to help our customers thrive in this new world of digital technologies and unprecedented possibilities.
He further stated that, “whilst we are evolving as an organization, we remain committed to our founding values which have endeared our brand to millions of people across Africa and beyond, and which continues to drive our financial success. As a Proudly African and Truly International band, we will continue to live by these values of excellence, hard work and integrity, even as we create faster, cheaper, safer and more diverse products for people and businesses of varied types and sizes’ ‘.
