First Bank of Nigeria profit rises 144%

First Bank of Nigeria
(FirstBank) has posted a profit before tax of NGN43.2bn ($279.6m)
for the 12 months to 31 December, a 144% increase from the previous
year.

FirstBank recorded net
income of NGN33.4bn.

Total assets increased
by 5.8% year-on-year to NGN3.3trn; customer deposits grew by 7.7%
to NGN 1.5trn while net loans rose by 5.5% to
NGN1.15trn.

Less positive metrics
included a 6.3 percentage point increase in the cost-income ratio
to 65.5% in fiscal 2010 from 59.2% the previous year.

FirstBank’s Retail and
Corporate Banking business unit posted a pre-tax profit of
NGN36.6bn.

Retail and commercial
banking made up 92.2% of total assets and contributed 85% to group
profit before tax.

FirstBank ended 2010
with a branch network of 652 outlets, a net increase of 42 outlets
during the year.

Operational highlights
during 2010 included:

• Deployment
  of the first Biometric ATM in the Nigeria banking
  sector;
• Automation of bulk payment processing services and
  enhancement of customer loan origination, and
• Enhanced
  alert and e-statement platforms resulting in a growth in alert and
  e-statement volumes from 60m and 240,000 in December 2009 to over
  140m and 3m respectively in December 2010.

FirstBank targets
for fiscal 2011 include a 10% increase in lending.

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