Shareholders Approve Coronation’s Divestment from Subsidiaries

Shareholders of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, recently endorsed the decision of the board of directors of the bank to divest from its subsidiaries – Coronation Asset Management Limited and Coronation Securities Limited. However, the move would be subject to the approval of relevant regulatory authorities.

The shareholders gave the approval at the bank’s fourth Annual General Meeting in Lagos.

In his review of 2018, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Coronation Merchant Bank, Mr. Abubakar Jimoh, said the bank continued to invest significantly in digital and information technology infrastructure, with a focus on ensuring that its systems and processes are both efficient and resilient.

Jimoh added, “To be the preferred financial services provider of tomorrow, we have to constantly refine our processes to meet customers wherever they may be – whether it is on a mobile device, an internet enabled platform or a remote office location – they expect us to always be there for them, when they need us to always be there for them, when they need us and where they want us.

“Fuelled by this conviction, in 2018, we became the first merchant bank in Nigeria to introduce a fully interactive and digital responsive call centre – Coronation Resolution Centre,” Jimoh added.

He expressed optimism that despite challenges in the economy, the bank would deliver improved results to shareholders.

Also, the Chairman, Coronation Merchant Bank, Mr. Babatunde Folawiyo, noted, “going into the future, we must remain nimble, but fully committed to the values of innovation, excellence and teamwork.”

Coronation Merchant Bank Limited’s full year results for 2018 revealed that the bank recorded profit before tax of N5.3 billion, higher than the N5.1 billion recorded same period last year.

But its profit after tax stood at N4.6 billion in the result under review, as against the N4.7 billion it achieved last year.

The group however maximised opportunities in its core business to deliver stable and sustainable revenue as its topline revenue grew by 10 per cent, compared to 2017, while total assets grew by 63 per cent from N136 billion in 2017, to N223 billion. Earning assets grew significantly by 70 per cent year-on-year to cushion the huge gap from reduced market-driven decline in yield.

This, according to a statement from the bank, resulted to a slight decline in net interest income by five per cent to achieve N7.6 billion, down from N8 billion in 2017.

There was increase in foreign exchange and fixed income trading volumes, loan disbursement, e-channel transactions, which saw the bank’s non-interest income increase by 46 per cent year-on-year, to achieve N4.1 billion, compared with the N2.8 billion it achieved in 2017.

The impact of the adoption of IFRS 9 increased the bank’s cost of risk marginally from zero per cent to 0.03 per cent, with all its risk assets in the stage 1 classification according to IFRS 9 classification.