Bank of Industry’s Total Assets Hit N2.38tn
•Profit before tax rises by 15.6%
Festus Akanbi
With its total assets crossing the N2 trillion mark in its 2022 performance, the Bank of Industry (BOI) Group has delivered an outstanding financial and developmental performance result for the year ended December 31, 2022, despite the headwinds that trailed the COVID-19-induced recession in 2020.
Consequently, the bank has continued its growth in major financial indices on a year-on-year basis, thus consolidating its position as Nigeria’s largest and most impactful development finance institution.
For the year under review, the group’s total assets crossed the N2 trillion mark in 2022 to N2.38 trillion, indicating a 39.2 per cent growth when compared with the preceding year. This significant leap was achieved following the successful conclusion of three landmark capital-raising transactions in the year, worth €1.85 billion (about $2 billion) from the international financial markets.
The bank’s financial statement showed that gross earnings grew by 15.4 per cent to N212.96 billion in 2022 from N184.55 billion in 2021. In the same vein, interest income from both customer loans and investments improved by 21.1 per cent in 2022 to N212.96 billion from N175.83 billion in the previous year.
Also, profit before tax rose by 15.6 per cent to N71.99 billion in the year, from N62.28 billion in 2021 due to remarkable growth in interest income and other income lines; alongside the reduction in impairment charges.
Total equity grew by 11.7 per cent to N429.83 billion from N384.85 billion in 2021, while loans and advances improved by 3.2 per cent to N805.46 billion from N780.48 billion in 2021.
In its developmental impact, the bank disbursed the sum of N210.7 billion to 418,436 beneficiaries in the year, through both its direct and indirect lending platforms, as well as through funds it manages on behalf of its strategic partners.
The three key capital-raising transactions in the year from the international financial market included the bank’s maiden Eurobond of €750 million, which was concluded in February 2022. It was the first of its kind in several ways to the bank, the country, and Africa.
The deal was the bank’s first Eurobond transaction, as well as the first Euro-denominated Eurobond transaction in Nigeria. The transaction was also the first Eurobond transaction that was covered by Nigeria’s sovereign guarantee and also represents the first of its kind by a national development finance institution in Africa.
The transaction earned the bank the Agency Bond Deal of the Year award at the 2023 awards event of the Bonds, Loans, and ESG Capital Markets in Capetown, South Africa.
The second was the €1 billion guaranteed senior loan facility, which was concluded in August of 2022. The deal also represents the first of its kind, by any Nigerian financial institution, both in terms of its size and structure.
Through the transaction, the bank was not only able to raise liquidity but was also able to diversify its funding sources by attracting new lenders, even though the international capital markets were prohibitively expensive and shut to many borrowers at the time.
A €100 million line of credit from the French Development Agency (AFD) was also concluded in August 2022. Through the credit facility, the bank expanded its financing interventions in environmentally friendly and green projects. A grant of €2.5 million was also included in the deal to support capacity building for both staff and customers.
According to the bank, its intervention programmes in the year, which traversed several sectors and segments of the Nigerian economy, did not only contribute significantly to national goals of economic recovery and job creation but also empowered Nigerian businesses, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises to remain in operations sustainably.
