By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria’s tier one lender, Access Bank Plc said on Friday its 2015 first quarter (Q1) pretax profit climbed up 23 percent to N16.5 billion from N13.4 billion reported the same period of last year.

Also, profit after tax (PAT) rose 18 percent to N13.6 billion from N11.6 billion a year ago.

Gross earnings grew to N76.7 billion from N57.3 billion in the corresponding period of 2014; indicating a growth of 34.1 percent, the top tier lender said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Commenting on the results, Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director noted that the Bank’s financial performance in the first quarter of 2015 marks steady progress towards key strategic objectives: “Our focus remains on the delivery of sustainable value to our shareholders. We continue to deepen and broaden our top-tier corporate relationships whilst optimisingand growing our diverse retail customer base to support low-cost liability growth.”