By Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, on Thursday, released its Audited Financial Results for the year ended December 31, 2020 to the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges.
According to the results, the Group reported Profit before tax of ₦238.1billion, representing a growth of 2.8% over ₦231.7billion recorded in the corresponding year ended December 2019. The Group’s Loan book (Net) grew by 10.7% from ₦1.502trillion recorded as at December 2019 to ₦1.663trillion in December 2020, while Customers’ deposits increased by 38.6% from ₦2.533trillion in December 2019 to ₦3.509trillion in December 2020.
A further breakdown of the results shows that Guaranty Trust Bank’s Balance sheet remained well structured, diversified and resilient with Total assets and Shareholders’ Funds closing at ₦4.945trillion and ₦814.4billion respectively. Full Impact Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) remained very strong, closing at 21.9%, while Asset quality was sustained as NPL ratio and Cost of Risk (COR) closed at 6.4% (Bank: 5.9%) and 1.2% (Bank: 1.0%) in December 2020 from 6.5% (Bank: 6.2%) and 0.3% (Bank: 0.2%) in December 2019 respectively.
The Managing Director/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank PLC, Mr. Segun Agbaje, while commenting on the financial results said 2020 was arguably the most challenging that the world has faced in decades.
“In such unprecedented times, we sought to live out the full extent of our values; safeguarding lives and livelihoods for our people, our customers and across the communities where we operate. We were on solid footing going into 2020; the strength, scale and liquidity of our balance sheet, coupled with the quality of our past decisions and the efficacy of our digital-first customer-centric strategy gave us the resilience and flexibility to navigate the economic shocks and market volatility that dominated the year,” he explained.
He, however stated that amidst the many persisting challenges, the bank remained ardent believers in Africa’s growth potential, particularly with new and exciting opportunities for empowering people and uplifting communities.
Agbaje added: “With our commitment to deepening customer relationships and intense focus on delivering innovative financial solutions, we enter 2021 well-positioned to lead this new world.”
