‘Access Bank’s N68bn rights issue for expansion’

Speaking with journalists recently in Lagos, Mr. Kumapayi said the bank, which has a vision of becoming one of the most respected banks in Africa, has grown to be among the top five banks in Nigeria.
Giving reasons why investors should invest in Access Bank, Kumapayi said the bank is classified as Tier 1 bank with robust financial indicators.
He affirmed that Access Bank has strong returns for investors through capital appreciation and dividend payout.
“Access Bank has a window of opportunity in rapidly expanding and consolidating the banking sector, a backdrop of stable economy.”
He said the bank is poised on building and leveraging on resources and benefits of being a large diversified financial institution.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) had on September 20, 2014, granted Access Bank Plc approval on its proposed N68bn rights issue.
The bank last week announced an impressive profit of N44.2bn for the nine months ended 30 September 2014, based on improved efficiency, rising market share and strong risk management practices. The bank’s profit before tax showed an increase of 20 per cent from N35.1bn recorded during the same period in 2013.
Access Bank’s unaudited IFRS nine results released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week also showed gross earnings of N182bn, up 17 per cent from N154bn in the corresponding period of 2013. The growth in gross earnings was driven by an increase in interest income from loans. Similarly, Access bank posted 21 per cent growth in operating income to N126bn from N104bn in 2013. Customer deposits increase by 11 per cent to N1.5trn from N1.3trn in full year 2013. The bank’s asset quality ratios also improved as Non Performing Loan (NPL) ratio was down 20 basis points to 2.5 per cent, from 2.7 per cent in December 2013.
Further analysis of the result indicated that Access bank continued to improve on its operating efficiency and steady income growth, resulting in cost to income ratio of 61 per cent in  third quarter 2014 compared to 75 per cent in 2013. Total assets grew by 14 per cent to N2.1trn from N1.8trn in full year 2013. Loans and advances of N1.1trn showed an increase of 33 per cent compared to N811bn in full year 2013.