Amaka Obiefuna.

Wema Bank Plc has begun capital reorganization after shareholders gave a nod of approval, the exercise is meant to strengthen the banks operations. It received the approval in Lagos at its Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on Friday October 20, 2017.

The bank is now expected to give effect to the creation of a Capital Reduction Account (CRA), the transfer the negative balances in the retained revenue account to the Capital Reduction Account (CRA), reflect the carrying amounts on the specified assets based on their current economic values while effectively setting-off these balances against the share premium account.

Wema Bank will also approach the Federal High Court for approval on the resolutions passed by the Shareholders. The approval is expected to be received within the next few weeks, leading to the passage of all accounting entries before the 2017 financial year end.

After the exercise, shareholders and the investment community should witness a more efficient balance sheet, improvements in our performance ratios — as the plough back of successive years’ profits lead to the continued growth of the Wema Brand. In addition, the Bank would also be well positioned to commence payment of dividend payments.

Segun Oloketuyi, Wema Bank MD/CEO, while commenting on the unaudited Q3’2017 financial results of the bank, provided further insights into the performance of the Bank during the period.

In a good sign of resilience, the bank’s gross earnings grew by 16.79% from N 37.89 billion in Q3’2016 to N 45.38 billion as at Q3’2017. This was supported by increased contribution from non-interest income which rose by 35.74% from N 5.96 billion in Q3’2017 to N 8.09 billion, as at Q3’2017. The high interest rate environment continued to impact earnings, as interest expense increased year on year. Despite this, the Bank recorded a growth in Profit before Tax (PBT) by 20.81% to N 1.80 billion.

Recently, Wema Bank was ranked 8th in the annual KPMG industry customer service annual survey from 13th position in 2016. This is a further attestation of our processes, product & service offerings, which has afforded us increasing market penetration. We expect a top-5 finish by 2018, and we have begun working, to achieve this feat.

The delivery on incremental innovations on ALAT remains priority to us, with the roll-out of version 2.0 this week. We believe the launch of ALAT 2.0 is a demonstration of our continued resolve to using technology and innovation – our key strategic determinants, in ensuring continued customer acquisition and reducing our cost to serve. Customer acquisition on ALAT remains strong, with an average of 30,000 opened monthly. We remain excited, as we remain on course to achieve the set year-end target of 350,000 accounts.