Diamond Bank Plc has grown its gross earnings to N103 billion in the first half, according to the interim report and accounts for the six-month ended June 30, 2015.
The report released on Friday show a growth by N6.2 or six per cent from N96.8 billion recorded in comparable period of 2014.
The chief executive officer, Diamond Bank Plc, Mr. Uzoma Dozie, said that the bank’s continued success in spite of regulatory headwinds underlined management’s strategies that promote sustainable growth and profitability in the long term.
“Our innovative, customer friendly services, and retail banking strategy are showing positive results and will enable us to sustain low cost of funds. In the quarters ahead, we will focus on driving non-interest income, as we continue to explore opportunities to grow our market share responsibly. We shall expand customer relationships, enhanced by our elaborate channels and excellent service delivery,” Dozie said.
However, further review indicated contraction in the bottom-line, but the bank’s capital adequacy ratio rose to 18.6 per cent, substantially higher than Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s minimum level. Profit before tax had declined from N16.07 billion to N14.19 billion while profit after tax slipped from N13.79 billion to N12.15 billion.
Dozie said the group continues to deploy new technologies and digital applications to drive financial inclusion and convenient banking amidst a decline in the pace of economic activities and weak economic fundamentals.
He noted that although loans to customers increased by N2.6 billion, customer deposits, however, declined from N1.5 trillion to N1.4 trillion, reflecting the impact of the bank’s deliberate decision to improve the efficiency of its funding structure, and effect of implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the Federal Government and the CBN.
He outlined that the bank’s focus remains on retail banking and providing convenient and easy banking to the micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSME) segment adding that it has also continued to grow its corporate and mid-tier business segments. “The concept of value chain management helps us to provide end-to-end solution to the distributors of our corporate clients and ultimately improve value for both us and the customers,” Dozie said.
