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 Daily Independent Online.
* Friday, August 13, 2004.
Ecobank to hit N25b capital base March, says
Osibodu
By Mojeed Jamiu
Finance
Editor, Lagos
Ecobank Nigeria Plc has
disclosed that it would meet the N25 billion target by March 2005.
The bank’s Managing Director
and Chief Executive, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, who made the disclosure during a
parley with newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday noted that the bank had already
put in place plans to increase its capitalisation even before the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came with the N25 billion capitalisation option.
According to her, the parent
body of the bank, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) would be
responsible for 70 per cent of the recapitalisation programme, while the
rest would be met through acquisition and public offers by the Nigerian
shareholders. She stressed that the bank has presence in 30 locations in
Nigeria, currently with a view to increasing this to 90 in the next one
year.
The Ecobank boss disclosed
that the Ecobank Group is present in 12 countries in the West African
sub-region, controlling a total asset base of $1.153 billion.
The bank in Nigeria has a
networth of N20 billion in terms of total deposits and a balance sheet
size of N27 billion. Ecobank hit the N1.1 billion profit mark in its
latest financial results.
The bank, in
its bid to increase its branch network in the country, has developed a
joint venture and mutually beneficial arrangement with NetPost, an arm of
the NIPOST, which would see the bank increasing its branches to 90 in the
next one year.
In the same vein, it would
open cash centres in 12 universities across the country, as well as eight
full fledge branches located in several parts of the country. Osibodu
said that the partnership with Netpost is an innovation to banking
business in Nigeria, which would result in a win-win situation for the
two parties in addition to benefiting the entire West African community
by facilitating trade related transfers.
The bank also plans to
introduce the internationally acclaimed smart card product, the
Mastercard, into the Nigerian market. This, she said, would ease the
transfer of money and reduce the incidence of carrying hard currency
while making foreign trips. Osibodu said the need to meet the
requirements of the market informed all the bank’s products currently in
the market. Besides, it plays actively role in all segments of the economy,
trying to be a service provider that is willing to meet all needs as they
arise.
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