First Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria’s multinational bank and financial services company in its latest financial report recorded the lowest profit in nine years while revenue plunged to a 5-year low in the first nine months of 2021.
Here are some key takeaways from the report.
Decline in profit
First Bank recorded a 35 percent decline in profit after tax to N40.79 billion in the first nine months of 2021 from N 68.16billion a year earlier. Also, profit after tax dropped by 30.96 percent from N59.085 billion in the nine months period of 2013.
Boost in e-business
First Bank boosted its e-business income by 21.5% from N34.6 billion generated in 9-month 2020 to N42.02 billion in the period under review. Despite being one of the oldest banks in the country, First Bank has been at the forefront of the mobile banking revolution.
The bank was one of the pioneers of the USSD platform which is used to transfer money via a text messaging application of a mobile phone.
Read also: First Bank unveils fully automated self-service branch
A decline in interest income
Despite the growth in e-business income, FBN’s interest income declined 12.6 percent to N260.11 billion in the first nine months of 2021 compared to N297.71 billion in the same period last year.
Interest income is a basic measure of earnings among financial companies, especially banks.
Increased operating expenses
Other operating expenses increased by 10.1 percent to N129.57 billion in the review period of 2021 from N117 billion in the comparable period of 2020.
“This was mostly as a result of the increase in Regulatory cost of the Bank of N45.89 billion in that period,” First Bank said in its financial.
An operating expense is an expenditure that a business incurs as a result of performing its normal business operations, according to Investopedia.
A drop in gross earnings
The Bank’s earnings slumped 2.8 percent from N439.33 billion in 2019 to N427.03 billion in 2021, the lowest for the nine-month period in five years.
Compared to the N439.18 billion earnings reported in the nine months of 2017, 2021 has a 2.77 percent decrease
Increase in fees and commission income
Fees and commission income also increased to N103.77 billion in 2021 from N87.59 billion in the comparable period of 2020.
Similarly, Fee and commission expenses increased 22 percent to N17.87 billion from N14.6 billion last year.
A surge in foreign exchange income
The Bank recorded a surge in foreign exchange income by 1046.6 percent to N5.9 billion compared to the loss of N624 million in the same period last year.
Loans and advances
The loans and advances to customers increased by 24.79 percent to N2.77 trillion within the first 9 months of 2021 compared to N2.22 trillion in 2020.
However, loans and advances to Banks declined by 4.38 percent to N972.3 billion within the first 9 months of 2021 compared to N1016.8 billion in 2020.
Increase in deposits
Deposits from customers jumped 10.64 percent to N5.42 trillion in the first nine months of 2021 from N4.89 trillion in the period under review of 2020. Similarly, deposits from Banks grew 18.94 percent to N1.2trillion from N 1.03trillion
Higher Asset
The bank’s total assets grew by 10.6 percent to N8.5 trillion from N7.69 billion last year.
Earnings per share
The bank’s earnings per share declined by 26.3 percent to N1.12 kobo in the ninth month of 2021 from N1.52 kobo in the corresponding period last year.
