The most creative bank in Nigeria, Wema Bank Plc, had a fantastic fourth quarter 2022 performance and is still developing into a dominant market force. In a press release announcing its audited financial results for the year ending December 31, 2022, the bank reported gross earnings of N131.08 billion, a 42.3 percent increase over the N92.14 billion reported the previous year.
The results, which showed strong fundamentals across the board, showed an increase in interest income of 44.7% from N73.30 billion to N106.07 billion. Non-interest income surged by 32.8 percent to N25.01 billion at N18.83 percent.
Similarly, the bank’s profit before tax grew to an all time high of N14.74 billion year on year as against N12.38 billion the previous year, an increase of 19 percent.
According to the bank, shareholders will receive a dividend of 30 Kobo per ordinary share in what is the biggest dividend payout till date.
The bank grew its deposit year by year by 26 percent as at full year 2022 to N1,165.93 billion from N927.47 billion in 2021. Its stock of loans and advances also grew from N418.86 billion in 2021 to N521.43 billion, showing a rise of 24 percent.
The impressive results showed that total assets hit N1,433.79 billion as against N1,164.52 trillion, a growth of 23 percent. Shareholders funds also moved up to N82.62 billion from N70.36 billion in 2021, an increase of 17 percent.
Commenting on the result, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mr. Moruf Oseni said,”Our 2022 results show the result of the careful execution if our medium term strategy as we have deliberately focused on deepening on offerings to the corporate, commercial and retail segments of the market using our digital channels while ensuring best in-class customer experience platforms to deliver improvements across all customer touch points. We expect the bottom line to improve even further in 2023″.
Also speaking on the result, the Bank’s Chief Finance Officer, Mr. Tunde Mabawonku, explained that the bank’s continuous investment in the digital space has positioned it as one of the leaders in providing digital banking services to individuals and corporates across the country.
“It has been a good full year performance for Wema Bank with gross earnings growing by 42.3 percent year on year and earnings by share at 87 kobo”, Mabawonku said.
“We have also succeeded in making Wema Bank an integral part of the fintech ecosystem in the country with our ubiquitous fintech infrastructure support play”, he further said.
