Figures don’t lie: Wema Bank standing on strong financial fundamentals – Adebise

Wema Bank, Nigeria’s leading innovative and digital-led financial institution has reassured its esteemed customers and shareholders that it remains standing on strong financial fundamentals and reliable performance metrics, riding on the back of seasoned and astute leadership.

The bank, through its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Ademola Adebise, commended its customers for their sustained trust in the institution, especially on the occasion of the Bank’s 76th anniversary.

The bank has also reacted to a recent publication in the media purportedly alleging a dip in its liquidity status following the unaudited report for 2020 with the MD/CEO saying the report is only a deliberate wicked campaign to create panic among the stakeholder using false news, and therefore should be discountenanced.

“The strength and viability of financial institutions are not measured on the isolated performance of one outlier year. The said report based a lot of its false allegations on the 2020 financial year. But that was a year when COVID-19 induced a lockdown and a disruption of such magnitude that negatively impacted businesses, industries and economies the world over.

“Wema Bank has continually exhibited not just resilience, but admirable viability over the years with a 30.95% increase in earnings recorded in just 2019. Then came 2020, and in spite of the difficulties, we succeeded in achieving significant increase in net fees and commission, while growing the Bank’s asset base by over 37% to over N900billion.

“That’s not all, customer credibility in the bank was also accentuated by over 40% increase in customer deposits from the previous year, translating to more than N800 billion in 2020. This is an audacious show of confidence from the customers of Wema Bank.

“These performance metrics amongst others, are testament to our smart balance sheet optimization approach, and will be affirmed by the time the audited 2020 Financial Report is released in the coming weeks “

Commenting further on customer assurance and the integrity of Wema Bank’s alternative transaction platforms, Adebise said, “we have been credited with successful transaction of Nxxxx billion across our ATM and e-channels in 2020; much as our xxx,xxx agents across the country who have processed over xxx thousand/million transactions with astonishing values, also in 2020. This is another testament to the stability and aspirational direction of Wema Bank to navigate the uncertainties even post covid.

The CEO also referenced how well the Bank’s performance in the said 2020 makes it one of the best performing financial institutions in the land.

“We won the award for the Best SME Bank of the Year for 2020 from BusinessDay. A recognition of our unrivalled support for small and medium scale businesses through loans, business advisory, and ease of payments and transactions.

“Also, the recently published 2020 KPMG Customer Experience Survey, showed Wema Bank making significant growth in the retail category, climbing up ten (10) places from the previous year to 2nd position, with an above industry average of 74.6% CX score. This achievement is a mark of dedication to excellent customer service and refreshing support for all our customer categories.”

The KPMG Customer Experience Survey grades banks over six universal pillars of Personalization, Integrity, Expectations, Resolution, Time & Effort and Empathy, and Wema Bank has showed a mastery of these pillars and been outstanding at all of them.

Furthermore, in line with the bank’s sustainability goal of developing digital solutions for societal impact, it successfully organized the second edition of Hackaholics, a radical gathering of developers, web designers and creative thinkers to develop solutions around key themes of Education, Health, Agriculture, Fintech, Gaming & Betting.

These are intentional measures put in place to sustain an institution’s legacy of economic evolution and social inclusion.

“We are a responsible corporate citizen with empathy as a core pillar of our personality. Thus, we stood by the nation in the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic with significant support for governments at both the federal and state levels.

“Particularly to prevent severe food shortages and align with the SDG of Zero Hunger, we supported State Governments with food palliatives donation which alleviated the conditions of over 80,000 households of the most vulnerable segments of the population.”

With all these financial and non-financial performance metrics, it is not in doubt that Wema Bank is among the best performing financial institutions in Nigeria in 2020.

“While detractors pursue their ulterior motives with various campaigns of calumny, for us as a responsible and visionary organization, we are staying committed to our corporate purpose of making life easier and better through innovation and digital-driven lifestyle solutions for Nigerians and their businesses,” Adebise concluded.