By Akanimo Sampson
Despite the shocks of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic, Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank Plc has posted an impressive financial records. As a result of the bank’s performance, its shareholders have approved a dividend of 4 kobo per ordinary share at the 15th Annual General Meeting.
The Annual General Meeting was held at the bank’s headquarters in Abuja with shareholders joining through virtual platforms.
Chairman of the bank’s board, Dr. Adeyinka Bibilari, an engineer, says the mortgage bank achieved impressive financial results in spite of the hostile challenges of COVID-l9 pandemic, and accordingly commended the Board and the Management for their collective effort towards the giant strides of the bank.
“The positive performance is attributed to the Bank’s strategic focus of growing the balance sheet and diversifying the Bank’s income base. This was underpinned by a robust risk management framework, strengthening of the internal control along with good technological framework and innovation in internal operations and processed”, he said.
He has assured shareholders that the bank will implement holistic growth initiatives to improve market standing and optimise the business.
The board also approved the appointment of two Non-Executive Directors, Mrs. Abisola Obaleye, Mrs Nkechi Bibilari, and an Executive Director, Sunday Olumorin
The bank’s audited figures however, show that its profit before tax widened to N465.06 million from N444.38 million in 2019, The total operating expenses dropped by 15 percent from N740 million in 2019 to N625 million in 2020. The bank’s customer deposits increased significantly by 94.5 percent from N1.94 billion in 2019 to N3.77 billion in 2020 due to its spirited customer engagement strategy.
Loans grew by 33 percent from N5.34 billion in 2019 to N7.12 billion in 2020. On-lending and refinancing activities also witnessed a growth of 22 percent from N2.19 billion to N2,68 billion. Total assets grew by 25o/o from N10.64 billion in 2019 to N13.34 billion in 2020, while shareholders’ funds grew by four percent from N6.20 billion in 2019 to N6.44 billion in 2020.
The impressed shareholders appreciated the board and management for the financial performance of the bank during this challenging environment. They expressed their satisfaction for declaring such a dividend for the year which is one of the highest among similar sized mortgage banks in Nigeria.
Also speaking, Managing Director/CEO, Dr. Olabanjo Obaleye, said of the bank’s performance in 2020, “I am proud that in addition to successfully navigating all of the challenges of operating in a pandemic environment, we achieved improvements in profitability, He maintained that the Bank is committed to investing in the business and maintaining consistent profitability trend.
“The robust performance of 2020 enabled the Bank to steadily increase its profitability and dividend distribution for the year. “We are committed to continuing our efforts to generate valuable returns to shareholders”, he adds.
Obaleye emphasized that the bank will continue to position itself to attract average income earners who desire to buy a house through efficient mortgage delivery, while maintaining competitive interest rates amid varying tenors. Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank Plc is poised to take advantage of the “new normal” precipitated by COVID-19 to develop and pronote digital solutions aimed at delivering value to stakeholders.
