Stanbic IBTC, a member of Standard Bank Group, has said it recorded gross earnings of N45.7bn for the first quarter of 2021.

In a statement on its unaudited group results for the period ended March 31, 2021, the bank said the gross earnings fell by 26 per cent compared to N61.4bn in the corresponding period of 2020.

Its net interest income was N15.9bn in the period under review, compared to N18.5bn in the corresponding period of 2020.

According to the statement, non-interest revenue was N23.1bn, down 29 per cent from N32.6bn in Q1 2020.

Profit before tax was N12.1bn, lower by 50 per cent from N24.4bn in Q1 2020, while profit after tax fell by 45 per cent to N11.3bn from N20.6bn in Q1 2020.

Commenting on the results, the Chief Executive Stanbic IBTC, Dr Demola Sogunle, said, “The domestic economy remains quite fragile. Negative real returns prevailed in the first quarter as headline inflation continued on the rise, currently above 18 per cent as of March 2021.

“Economic activities are expected to improve as the authorities take on appropriate actions and business confidence improves.

“Just recently, in April 2021, the CBN resumed dollar sales to foreign portfolio investors for the first time since December 2020 to clear the backlog of foreign exchange demand.

“The group’s profitability in the first quarter moderated year-on-year due to pressure on trading income: trading activities in our global markets business slowed down compared to prior year, operating expenses from regulatory induced charges increased, as well as the continued pressure on risk asset yields.”

He said the decline was partly cushioned by the year-on-year improvement in net fee and commission revenue as well as an impairment writeback of N155m in Q1 2021 compared to the charge of N1.97bn in prior year.

The impairment writeback was due to releases and after write-off recoveries achieved during the quarter, he said.