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Banking Sector

Gtbank, Union Bank Announced Dividends Last Week

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Dividend - Investors King

GTbank and Union Bank joined the list of companies that have so far declared dividend payments.

The two leading banks announced dividend payments last week as stated below.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc

Closure of Register Year Ended 31 December 2020
Proposed Dividend: ₦2.70
Proposed Bonus: –
Qualification Date: 3/31/2021
AGM Date: 4/9/2021
Payment Date: 4/9/2021
Closure of Register Date: 4/1/2021

GTBank announced records a profit after tax of N201.4 billion for the financial year ended 31, December 2021.  While the bank grew profit before tax from N231.708 billion posted in 2019 to N238.095 billion in 2020.

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc

Closure of Register Year Ended 31 December 2020
Proposed Dividend: ₦0.25
Proposed Bonus: –
Qualification Date: 3/31/2021
AGM Date: 4/13/2021
Payment Date: 4/13/2021
Closure of Register Date: 4/1/2021

Union Bank grew profit before tax 2.8 percent to N25.4 billion in the 2020 financial year, up from N24.7 billion in 2019.

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Banking Sector

Zenith Bank Enhances E-Channel Services for Customers

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Zenith Bank - Investors King

Zenith Bank, one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, has restored improved services across its electronic transaction channels, ensuring customers have seamless access to banking services.

In a statement released on Thursday via its X handle, the bank confirmed that customers can now conveniently conduct transactions across various platforms following a recent upgrade. These enhancements follow temporary glitches caused by routine IT maintenance aimed at optimizing service delivery.

Zenith Bank reiterated its commitment to providing improved services and highlighted the various channels available for customer transactions, including:

– Zenith Bank Debit, Credit, and Prepaid Cards
– Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)
– Point of Sale (POS) Terminals
– Zenith Bank Mobile App
– Internet Banking Platform
– Zenith Agents nationwide for agent banking

Customers are also encouraged to visit any of the bank’s branches across the country for in-person transactions.

Zenith Bank reassured further improvements in service delivery following the IT infrastructure upgrade. Customers with bulk payments and salary requests are encouraged to present payment mandates at any Zenith Bank branch nationwide for expedited processing.

Zenith Bank remains dedicated to enhancing customer experience and ensuring reliable banking services across all platforms.

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Banking Sector

Nigerian Banks Face Soaring Wage Bills Amid Rising Inflation

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First Bank

Many Nigerian commercial banks have been spending more on hiring staff, fresh data has revealed.

Following worsening inflation in the country, some banks have to pay more for their newly hired workers, thus doubling the banks’ wages and salaries in just over a year and putting pressure on their operating costs.

The data showed that wages and salaries incurred by 10 banking groups in the first half of 2024 (H1 2024) stood at N615.8 billion, representing a 96 percent growth from the N314.4 billion incurred in H1 2023.

The banking groups are Access Holdings, UBA, FBN Holdings (First Bank), GTCO (GT Bank), Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holdings (Stanbic), Wema Bank, FCMB Group, Sterling Holding Company (Sterling), and Jaiz Bank.

It showed that Access Holdings incurred the highest wage bill among the banks, with N151.5 billion, up by 145 percent from the N61.9 billion reported in H1 2023 while First Bank’s personnel expenses for H1 2024 hit N134.2 billion, marking a 110 percent year-on-year increase from the N63.9 billion personnel expenses incurred in H1 2023.

For UBA, its wage bill grew by 92 percent year-on-year to N126.6 billion during the six months, up from N65.9 billion as of H1 2023. Also, Zenith Bank’s wage bill soared by 64 percent year-on-year to N63.5 billion, from N38.6 billion in H1 2023. Stanbic incurred wage expenses of N40.6 billion during the six-month period, up from N28.2 billion in H1 2023.

GT Bank’s wage bill almost doubled, increasing by 98 percent year-on-year to N39.3 billion, up from N19.9 billion in H1 2023. FCMB Group’s wage bill grew by 74 percent to N26.6 billion in H1 2024, up from N15.2 billion reported in the corresponding period of 2023.

In the same vein, Wema Bank’s wage also went up by 77 percent to N15.6 billion, from N8.8 billion in H1 2023. Sterling Bank’s wage bill also jumped by 41 percent year-on-year to N12.5 billion, from N8.9 billion as of H1 2023.

Jaiz Bank’s wage bill went up by 78 percent to N5.5 billion, from N3.1 billion in H1 2023.

The data showed that for some of these banks, the increase in employees also contributed to their rising wage bills, though, marginally.

For example, Zenith Bank increased its employee count by 511 to 8,146 between H1 2023 and H1 2024. UBA’s employee count between H1 2023 and H1 2024 increased marginally by 3 percent or 338, from 9,751 to 10,089.

While some companies downsize their staff strength, due to the harsh economy in the nation, the few available workers have been overloaded with work.

With inflationary pressures hitting hard on individuals and businesses, companies have been forced to substantially increase the wages for the few available staff.

For banks, apart from their staff wages, they have also had to incur increased outsourcing costs. Outsourcing costs relate to expenses incurred when a bank hires third-party contract staff.

GT Bank’s outsourcing costs increased by 69 percent year-on-year to N14.5 billion during the half-year, in contrast with N8.6 billion in H1 2023. First Bank’s outsourcing costs jumped by almost 300 percent year-on-year during the half-year to N16.4 billion, from N4.3 billion in H1 2023. Wema Bank also saw a dramatic increase in its outsourcing costs, posting N8.85 billion for the category in H1 2024, representing a 272 percent year-on-year growth from N2.38 billion as of H1 2023.

The jump in labour costs for banks has positioned some of them as the top-paying employers in the country. For instance, in H1 2024, Stanbic IBTC Holdings posted a wage per employee of N2.11 million per month. Zenith Bank had a wage per employee of about N650,000 per month, a stark comparison with UBA’s N2.09 million per month. However, UBA’s foreign operations employ about 4,150 staff members.

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Banking Sector

Zenith Bank Apologizes for Service Disruption, Assures Customers of Improved Operations

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Zenith Bank - Investors King

Zenith Bank Plc has tendered an apology to its customers for the poor services experienced on its banking platforms.

Investors King reported that the service disruption which lasted for days left customers frustrated.

Despite the notice from the bank notifying its customers that it would perform maintenance from September 29 to October 1, many customers took to social media to register their disappointment with the bank.

Also, on Monday, September 30, angry customers converged at Zenith Bank, Ijaiye Ojokoro branch in Lagos, demanding access to their money.

A customer, Segun, who said that his main goal was to transfer his funds to another bank after being unable to access his money through any means revealed that for two days, he had tried to withdraw or transfer money through the bank’s mobile app, but nothing worked.

“My family nearly went hungry yesterday because of this issue,” he said, adding that his ATM card wasn’t working either.

However, on Thursday, Zenith Bank issued an apology via its official X handle to its customers.

The bank revealed that it had completed its maintenance upgrade and apologized for the inconvenience caused during the process.

Zenith Bank disclosed that the upgrade was aimed at improving the bank’s quality of service to its customers, emphasizing that customers can now perform transactions conveniently on all its banking channels, including mobile app, internet banking platform, debit card, agent banking, and branches nationwide.

The statement read, “Dear Valued Customer,

We sincerely apologise for the service disruptions you experienced recently on our banking channels. This was due to an information Technology upgrade aimed at improving the quality of service we provide.

We have made significant progress with the upgrade and you can now perform transactions conveniently with the following Zenith bank Channels:

Your Zenith Bank Debit Card
The Zenith Bank Mobile App
The Zenith bank Internet Banking Platform
Zenith Agents nationwide (Agent Banking)

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