FCMB Group Shareholders Approve N1.98bn Dividend

Shareholders of FCMB Group Plc, the holding company of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited, FCMB Capital Markets Limited, CSL Stockbrokers Limited and CSL Trustees Limited, last Friday approved N1.98 billion dividend for the year ended December 31, 2015.

The dividend, which translates to 10 kobo per share was approved at the 3rd annual general meeting (AGM) company held in Lagos.

FCMB Group Plc’s pre-tax profit fell 68per cent for the full year ended in December 31, 2015. Speaking at the AGM, the Chairman of FCMB Group, Dr. Jonathan Long, said, ‘’Although 2015 posed many challenges for the group, it was again possible for us to continue the development of our core banking franchise and to do so profitably.’’

 The Managing Director of FCMB Group Plc, Mr. Peter Obaseki, noted that the group is focused on sustaining the momentum of its leading retail presence.

 According to him, “as we seek to build more businesses in the retail space, we hope to fully launch a micro-finance business as a full subsidiary of the Group and seek opportunities to improve controlling participation in the pension fund industry; we expect our non-pension asset management and private trusteeship business to grow more steadily. A combination of these initiatives will reduce the pressure on the bank’s balance sheet and steer activities to less capital intensive businesses.’’

 Speaking in the same vein, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of First City Monument Bank Limited,  Mr. Ladi Balogun said the bank had moved swiftly and decisively to address the challenges that affected its financial results last year.

 ‘’In the fourth quarter of 2015, we began to see early promising signs from the actions we have taken so far to reset the business and restore our growth,’’ he said.

 He added that  FCMB’s  performance this year  will be driven by improvements in operating efficiency and its retail banking drive, particularly in alternate channels (ATMs, POS and agent banking).

 “We believe that our future is intertwined with the collective future of our customers and we do not believe that we can succeed if the customers do not. Hence, we will reinforce our position of being an inclusive lender. We will support sectors that will drive the prosperity of the markets in which we operate. We will bring greater accessibility to a broad range of financial services. By doing so, we will build a very resilient financial services franchise,” Balogun said.