GTBank’s ‘737’ Payment Channel Crosses N1trn Transactions

The Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) , Mr Segun Agbaje has said lender’s ‘Bank 737’ electronic payment channel recorded a uptake of over 3 million customers and over N1 trillion in transactions in 2016.
He noted that the bank’s electronic payment service has been recognised globally with several awards that include Best Digital Bank in Africa by Euro Money, United Kingdom.
Speaking at the bank’s 27th Annual General Meeting in Lagos recently, the GTBank boss said, “As part of our strategy to grow our retail business, we are continuously making our banking processes and touch points simpler, easier and faster, irrespective of where and when our customers choose to bank.
“This has enabled us improve the customer experience across all our touch points; from expanding the range of functionally we offer on our interest, mobile and USSD banking platforms, to ensuring better experience in our branches and providing more intelligent Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to allow customers save time through efficient self-service.
“As a result of this approach, our customer base has tripled over the last five years to 9.68 million customers as at December 31, 2016, and we have also seen tremendous growth in customers’ adoption of our digital services.”
He explained to shareholders that over the years, the bank has shared how digital technologies have changed its competitive landscape in the banking sector.
According to him, digital technologies have dissolved the boundaries between industry sectors and banking has not been spared from this disruption.
He said GTBank intends to continue to win and dominate and move beyond its traditional role as enablers of financial transactions and providers of financial products, to playing a deeper role in the digital and commercial lives of customers.
In his words, “We are investing and building our digital capabilities, and also actively seeking to collaborate with FinTech companies. Whether we compete or collaborate, we will be aggressively pursuing these digital opportunities to strengthen our traditional businesses, and going beyond being a bank to becoming a platform that enriches the lives of all the customers that it serves.
“As a platform for enriching lives, we are transforming our organization into a business enterprise that is all about creating value for its customers.
“By providing our retail customers with the information and access that they need to make decisions, offering our financial capabilities to high and corporate institutions and leveraging our brand and networks to support small businesses we will ensure that we continue to add value to our customers and develop meaningful relationships and partnerships.
“Simply put, we are putting our customers first in everything that we do by offering a differentiated and personalized user experience,” he explained.
Shareholders of GTBank at the AGM approved a final dividend per share of N1.75. Aggregating this with the N0.25 interim dividend brings total dividend for the year to N2.00 per share, a 13 per cent increase over N1.77 paid in 2015.
The Bank in 2016 recorded significant growth with gross earnings gaining 37.4 per cent from N301.9 billion in 2015 to N414.6 billion in 2016 and, Profit before Tax increasing by 36.8 per cent to N165.1 billion in 2016 from N120.7 billion in 2015.
Total assets as at December 2016 stood at N3.12 trillion, which represents a 23.4 per cent increase over the N2.52 trillion recorded in 2015 while loan and advances grew by 15.8 per cent to close at N1.59 trillion in 2016 from N1.37 trillion in 2015.
In spite of the stiff competition posed by the attractive yield on Treasury bills, customers deposits grew by 23.3 per cent from N1.61 trillion in 2015 to N1.99 trillion in 2016.