Purpose, Culture and Technology will boost our performance – says FCMB Group CEO, Ladi Balogun

During the 10th Annual General Meeting of the FCMB Group Plc, held in Lagos on April 28, Mr Ladi Balogun, the Group Chief Executive, discussed the company’s plans to achieve a robust performance in the 2023 financial year.

He told shareholders at the AGM that the company aims to prioritise purpose, culture and technology to achieve this goal.

Balogun said, “Our purpose is to foster inclusive and sustainable growth in the communities we serve. We plan to build a supportive ecosystem that connects people, capital and markets in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

He added that the company adopted this approach because it believes it will create value for all stakeholders while enhancing the tangible difference it makes to lives and communities.

“We also intend to deepen our use of technology and accelerate our digital transformation to ensure convenience, speed and safety of transactions for our customers,” he said, adding that the company aims to provide greater convenience to customers and better economics for each business while innovating faster and more effectively.

He stressed the importance of building an innovative performance culture reinforced by the company’s purpose and core values of Execution, Professionalism, Innovation and Customer focus. According to him, the FCMB Group believes that a consistent, group-wide performance culture will create agents of change and progress for its businesses and the communities it serves.

Commenting on the financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022, the Group CEO said the company delivered impressive results and achieved a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N36.6 billion, representing a 61 per cent Year-on-Year growth and a 33.5 per cent growth in gross revenue to N283 billion from N212 billion the previous year.

He disclosed that the company also recorded double-digit growth across all business segments, with the banking group growing by 71.7 per cent, while the consumer finance, investment management and investment banking segments grew by 25.6 per cent, 45.7 per cent and 26.7 per cent, respectively.

Besides financial growth, the FCMB Group also achieved positive environmental, social and governance results, Balogun said. He added that the company switched 12 additional branches to solar power in 2022, removed 75 per cent of its branch network from grid/diesel generators and provided micro-loans totalling N13 billion to 120,000 MSMEs.

Balogun told shareholders at the AGM that the FCMB Group also extended its partnership with the agency banking arm to 100,000, acquiring over 211,000 customers. He said the company also partnered with operators in the agricultural value chain to support 280,000 smallholder farmers, create over 600,000 jobs and helped deliver Africa’s first cassava-based Sorbitol factory.

Headquartered in Lagos, the FCMB Group is listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). Its subsidiaries have strategic interests in companies serving over 10 million customers across five platforms: banking, consumer finance, investment management, investment banking and financial technology.