The Bank of Industry has disclosed that despite the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fall of crude oil prices, its 2020 performance showed strength and resilience.
According to the bank’s chairman, Mr Aliyu Dikko, the group’s total assets grew from N1.04tn to N1.86tn between 2019 and 2020.
The chairman who said this at the bank’s 2020 Annual General Meeting held virtually in Abuja added that the 79.1 percent increase was largely attributed to the successful debt syndications of €1bn and $1bn that was concluded in March and December 2020 respectively.
He said that the group’s total equity increased by 15.3 percent from N293.08bn in the previous year to N336.48bn in 2020.
On the other hand, loans and advances, affected by the challenging environment, grew in 2020 by 1.3 percent to N749.84bn from the 2019 position.
Dikko stated that profit before tax fell by 9.6 percent to N35.54bn as a result of the economic slowdown in the year as well as the various interventions and support initiated by the bank for its customers.
He said that in 2020, the bank facilitated the disbursement N2.5bn and N1.2bn under the N-Power and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programmes to 300,011 and 109,039 beneficiaries respectively.
He explained that the bank reduced interest rates on all BOI-funded projects from 10 percent to eight percent for a one-year period and extended the principal repayment period by three months.
Dikko said, “The bank carried out the directive of the CBN, by reviewing and restructuring all projects managed under the CBN intervention programme with moratorium extension of three months (with a possible extension to 12 months) and interest rate reduction to five percent per annum.”
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mr Kayode Pitan, noted that while the bank was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it remained committed to supporting enterprises across the country.