Despite the economic headwind, the microfinance banking sector has continued to record impressive performance in all key assessment parameters with the sub-sector’s total assets reaching N2.795 trillion, representing a 91 per cent increase year-on-year as of the end of June this year.
The scorecard also showed that the total deposits surged by 168 per cent to N1.25trn at the end of the second quarter this year.
These performance highlights were contained in the address of the National President of the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), Mr Joshua Ukute, at its 2024 Annual General Meeting held at the weekend in Abuja.
He also disclosed that the efficiency in the sub-sector improved as PAR improved by 13.09 per cent to 12.25 per cent and the liquidity ratio was 65.46 per cent due to increased lending.
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The renowned banker attributed the sub-sector’s sound financial and operational results to the Visibility, Impact, Capacity Building and Self-Regulation (VICS) project initiated by the executive council of the association on his assumption of office two years ago.
He said: “The last 12 months have been exciting as the microfinance sub-sector witnessed significant growth.”
He recalled that the association during his tenure engaged several partners to ensure that the activities of MfBs had the desired impact on all stakeholders, adding that “our engagements with various agencies NFIU, FIRS, BOI, DBN, etc, deepened the collaborations and relationships with our members.”
Ukute told the association’s members that though the achievements recorded were impressive, the sub-sector continued to face challenges, including increasing operating expenses occasioned by high energy costs, dearth of skilled staff and inflation which continued to pressure on members’ businesses; the compliance regime of CBN and the revocation of Heritage Bank’s licence, which had had ripple effects on MfBs with trapped funds in the liquidated bank.
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