First Bank of Nigeria will pursue an “aggressive” expansion strategy into next year as it seeks to tap into the growing consumer market in Africa’s most populous country, its chief executive said on Thursday.

The Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, told a conference call with analysts that  the top-tier lender would focus on an organic growth plan by opening new branches to mop up cheap retail deposits and drive profitability into 2013. It had a total of 721 branches in September 2012.

“We set ourselves a target to open 135 branches by 2013 and as we speak we have opened 75 and we have 60 under construction,” Onasanya said on the call, while presenting the bank’s third quarter results.

According to a Reuters report, he said the bank was targeting a return on equity of between 20-25 per cent for 2013. The bank’s shares were up by 0.25 per cent at N16.30  at the market close.

First Bank reported a pre-tax profit growth of 48 per cent in the nine months to September of N75.7bn ($482m), compared with N51bn in the same period of last year.

Gross earnings hit N267.7bn naira during the nine months period, compared to N222bn in the same period of 2011.

“We have a clear and achievable growth strategy with core focus on Nigeria, given favourable long term economic and demographic dynamics,” he said.

Source: Punch