Highlights of the diversified Group’s unaudited six-month results released on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) floor showed that various divisions achieved robust earnings growth: Banking Group 185.5%, Consumer Finance 10.3%, Investment Management 53.3%, and Investment Banking 54.3%.
Commenting on the half-year financial results, the Group Chief Executive of FCMB Group Plc, Mr Ladi Balogun, said: “We continue to leverage our unique Group structure to build a technology-driven ecosystem that fosters inclusive and sustainable growth in the communities we serve. This strategy enables us to deliver robust performance despite the challenging domestic and global environment.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, this trend will be sustained and accompanied by improving efficiencies arising from greater scale and ongoing digitization.”
Customer confidence in FCMB Group remained strong, as deposits rose by 45.3% year-on-year to N2.38 trillion at the end of June, up from N1.64 trillion in the corresponding period of 2022, whilst Loans and advances also grew by 37.4% to N1.54 trillion, compared to N1.12 trillion in the previous period.
The half-year results also showed impressive performance in environmental, social, and corporate governance activities that contributed significantly to the society’s sustainable and inclusive growth. For instance, within the six months under review, FCMB Group contributed to food security and import substitution in Nigeria by growing lending to the agricultural sector by 18.4% to N174.0 billion from N147.4 billion for the full year 2022.
Working with partners, access to finance was provided to 24,000 rural farmers, and the rehabilitation of 80,000 farming households was supported in the North-East geo-political zone of the country.
In the area of climate action, the company successfully secured funding of up to N5 billion from local development finance institutions for on-lending to customers requiring solar energy solutions in line with its commitment to support renewable energy sources.
The financial institution secured over N71.6 billion of funding from Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and donor agencies at the end of June 2023, which was channelled to support the attainment of sustainable development goals in critical sectors of the economy.
By democratizing access to comprehensive financial services, FCMB Group acquired an additional 869,000 customers, thereby increasing its customer base to 11.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2023, as against 10.1 million in the corresponding period of 2022.
Digital banking initiatives continue to gain traction across the Group’s various businesses as users of its new mobile app that offers lending, wealth, and payment solutions grew by 20% year-on-year to 1.6 million.
Seventy-eight thousand customers accessed retail investment products via FCMB’s digital channels. Similarly, its agency banking network grew to over 115,000 agents nationwide.
<span;>FCMB Group is listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). It serves over 11.7 million customers across four platforms: banking, consumer finance, investment management, and investment banking.
