First City Monument Bank Group Plc recorded N15.4 billion in profit before tax deduction at the end of the first half of 2022.
This was contained in the company’s unaudited group results for the first half that ended on 30th June 2022.
According to the report, the firm made a gross revenue of ₦126.2 billion for the six months ended June 2022, a 34.0% growth from ₦94.2 billion for the same period the prior year. This was driven by a 35.0% growth in interest income and a 30.5% growth in non-interest income.
“Net interest income grew by 39.9% from ₦42.9 billion, for the first six months of 2021, to ₦60.2 billion in H1 2022. This was driven by a growth in the yield on earning assets from 9.9% to 10.9% which led to an increase in NIM from 7.0% to 7.2%.
“Digital continues to gain traction across our various businesses and now accounts for 13.6% of gross earnings, 9.3% of interest income, 6.6% of the loan book and 7.9% of the AUM of our Asset Management business.
“Operating expenses grew 19.1% Year-on-Year to ₦57.1 billion in the first six months of 2022, largely due to increased regulatory costs, technology-related costs and general inflationary pressures.
“Net impairment loss on financial assets increased Year-on-Year to ₦10.7billion, for the six months ended June 2022, from ₦4.0 billion for the same period the prior year. H1 2022 cost of risk was 1.9%.
“PBT grew by 73.2% Year-on-Year to ₦15.4 billion with strong double-digit growth in each of our business segments as follows; Banking Group 84.2%, Consumer Finance 42.7%, Investment Management 41.9%, and Investment Banking 253.8%.
“Earnings diversification; banking subsidiaries contributed 70.8% of Group profits, whilst our other non-banking subsidiaries contributed 29.2% (Consumer Finance 13.8%, Investment Management 11.0%, and Investment Banking 4.2%)”, the statement read.
The company also disclosed its non-financial successes in the first half of 2022.
On climate action, the bank noted that it transitioned 8 branches from grid/diesel generators to solar power in H1 2022, taking the number of branches running on renewable energy to 150 (i.e., 73% of total branches) as of June 30th.
The bank noted that its financial inclusion includes providing N6.3 billion loans to over 52,000 MSMEs at an average ticket size of ₦99,000, 77% of which were women. “Our focus on financial inclusion and MSMEs has been further bolstered by a $17.3 million funding partnership with Mastercard Foundation to provide affordable loans to 100,000 MSMEs over the next 5 years with a focus on 90% participation by women.
It further noted that it contributed to food security and import substitution in Nigeria by growing our lending to the agricultural sector from ₦53.6 billion in H1 2021 to ₦87.9 billion in H1 2022, a net disbursement of ₦34.3 billion over the last one year which represents 16.5% of our total loan growth over the period.
FCMB acquired over 900,000 customers in the period including 250,000 customers from our PFA acquisition, compared to 400,000 in H1 2021. “Our customer base crossed the 10 million mark in H1 2022”, the bank added.
