Polaris Bank Limited says it recorded a profit before tax of N28.9bn for the financial year ended December 2020.
The bank disclosed this in a statement titled ‘Polaris Bank sustains profit growth with N28.9bn in 2020 financial year’.
It said its full-year audited financial results, which showed its second-year performance scorecard after two years of operation, had further consolidated its position as focused on the path of profitability, growth, and value creation.
Details of the results showed that its 2020 performance reflected a four per cent year-on-year increase in profit before tax.
The performance, according to the financial statements, was driven by the combination of the significant reduction in interest expense due to the bank’s pursuit of low interest-bearing deposits as well as lowering impairment charges on loans and other financial assets.
The bank said it recorded return on asset and return on equity of 2.4 per cent and 29.4 per cent respectively, which favourably placed it as a key player in the industry.
It said its total assets stood at N1.18tn, a three per cent growth on the previous year, while shareholders’ funds grew by N14bn (17 per cent), largely attributable to internally generated profits.
The bank said it increased its customer deposits by N56bn, predominantly low-cost deposits in spite of difficult economic and industry conditions, and increased its gross loan book by N38bn.
Commenting on the bank’s performance, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Polaris Bank, Mr Innocent Ike, who took over in the course of the year from Mr Tokunbo Abiru, said, “Polaris Bank has achieved significant milestones since its inception in September 21, 2018 when we started this journey.
“We have since grown to earn the confidence of the banking publics, offering quality banking services at the cutting edge of technology.”
He added, “2020 was arguably the most challenging year that the world has faced in decades owing to the negative impact of COVID-19 on businesses and the economy.
“Yet, the current result demonstrates the importance of the deployment of appropriate strategies, and effectively validates our recent investment in technology solutions and digitisation of our products and processes.”
He explained that the bank’s subsisting three-year corporate transformation plan had recently been reviewed in line with the changing operating environment and trend dynamism for sustainable value creation.
Digital transformation remained one of the potent strategies to strengthen the bank’s balance sheet, control costs, and improve processes while providing clients with wider self-service offerings, he said.
