Its leading banks have soared up the table of The Banker’s Top 1000 Banks ratings and have shown consistently strong profit growth. Its top banks all performed strongly in 2007, increasing net profits and boosting their asset bases and Tier 1 capital.
The Bank of the Year award was a tight contest but was eventually awarded to Intercontinental Bank. Such was the closeness of the contest, The Banker has also decided to give a special commendation to Oceanic Bank and UBA. Both banks soared up Top 1000 rankings by Tier 1 capital, with Oceanic leaping 565 places and UBA jumping 484 places this year.
Intercontinental Bank, however, is the deserved winner of the award after a year that saw the bank increase its net profits by an impressive 102%. Its assets grew by almost 100% and the bank strengthened its Tier 1 capital base by 28%. The bank also boosted its return on equity, lowered its cost-to-income ratio and cut its non-performing loan ratio from 4.65% of its loan book to 3.64%.
During the course of 2007 Intercontinental Bank streamlined its operational processes, which resulted in cost savings of N1bn ($8.4m), grew its deposits by 126% and formed a partnership with a South African microfinance company.
“This is another testament to Intercontinental Bank’s profile as the new face of leadership in the Nigerian financial industry,” says Intercontinental Bank chief executive Erastus Akingbola. “Last year, we embarked on key transformation initiatives to improve efficiency in our operations. Our deposit mobilisation strategy and suite of innovative products resulted in total customer deposits of N1080bn ($9.1bn), the highest in the industry as at February 2008.”
