Monday, 15 Nov 2010

The total net assets of the 12 publicly quoted banks that passed the Central Bank of Nigeria‘s stress test have increased in value to N1.89tn, investigation by our correspondent has revealed.

A bank’s net asset is its total assets less total liabilities.

The net assets of the banks, which stood at N1.89tn as at September 30, 2010, increased by 3.46 per cent, from N1.83tn, in the corresponding period of 2009.

The banks include Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and First Bank for Nigeria Plc.

Others are Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, and United Bank of Nigeria Plc.

Sterling Bank had the highest increase, with a total net asset of N26.42bn in the third quarter of 2010, representing a 25.35 per cent increase from N21.07bn in 2009. Skye Bank followed with an increase of 21.31 per cent, from N88.09bn in 2009 to N106.86bn in 2010.

Stanbic IBTC‘s net asset stood at N82.98bn in 2010, from N71.46bn in 2009, representing an increase of 16.13 per cent. Zenith Bank had an increase of 6.06 per cent, up from N337.79bn in 2009 to N358.25bn in 2010. FCMB’s net asset also appreciated by 2.90 per cent, from N129.59bn to N133.36bn in 2010.

Fidelity Bank‘s net asset increased to N133.24bn in 2010, from N130.69bn in 2009, indicating an increase of 1.95 per cent, while UBA recorded 1.57 per cent increase, from N186.83bn in 2009 to N189.76bn in 2010. GTBank’s net asset improved by 1.49 per cent, from N196.40bn in 2009 to N199.34bn in 2010.

The other banks are Ecobank (N74.57bn) and Diamond Bank (N106.11bn). First Bank maintained about the same net asset of N309.56bn, while Access Bank‘s net asset fell by 1.63 per cent, from N174.43bn in 2009 to N171.58bn in 2010.

The CBN and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation had conducted a special audit, which certified 14 Nigerian banks stress-free in August 2009. Two of the banks, Citibank Nigeria Limited and Standard Chartered Bank Limited, are not publicly quoted companies, therefore, their results are not available for public scrutiny.

The apex bank assessed the banks on the basis of liquidity, capital adequacy and corporate governance.

The Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, had said that the total assets of the country‘s 24 banks were currently between N14tn and N16tn.

He said this while announcing that the country‘s deposit money banks and the CBN would contribute N1.5tn over the next 10 years to fund the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, the company set up to buy bad debts in the banking industry.

He said, ”The CBN will provide N500bn to the fund in support of the state-owned AMCON, while banks will contribute the rest. Each bank is expected to contribute 0.3 per cent of its total assets to the fund.”

Source: Punch