By Bisi Daniels
The Bank of Industry Group has delivered an outstanding financial and developmental performance result in the year ended 31st December 2022, despite the headwinds that followed the COVID-19 induced recession in 2020.
The bank continued its growth in major financial indices on a year-on-year basis, thus consolidating its position as Nigeria’s largest and most impactful Development Finance Institution.
The group’s total asset crossed the ₦2 trillion mark in 2022 to ₦2.38 trillion, indicating a 39.2 percent growth when compared with the preceding year. This significant leap was achieved following the successful conclusion of three landmark capital raising transactions in the year, worth €1.85 billion (about $2 billion) from the international financial markets.
Gross earnings grew by 15.4 percent to ₦212.96 billion in 2022 from ₦184.55 billion in 2021. In the same vein, interest income from both customer loans and investments improved by 21.1 percent in 2022 to ₦212.96 billion from ₦175.83 billion in the previous year.
Also, profit before tax rose by 15.6 percent to ₦71.99 billion in the year, from ₦62.28 billion in 2021 due to remarkable growth in interest income and other income lines; alongside the reduction in impairment charges.
Total equity grew by 11.7 percent to ₦429.83 billion from ₦384.85 billion in 2021, while loans and advances improved by 3.2 percent to ₦805.46 billion from ₦780.48 billion in 2021.
In its developmental impact, the bank disbursed the sum of ₦210.7 billion to 418,436 beneficiaries in the year, through both its direct and indirect lending platforms, as well as through funds it manages on behalf of its strategic partners.
The three key capital raising transactions in the year from the international financial market included the bank’s maiden Eurobond of €750 million, which was concluded in February 2022. It was the first of its kind in several ways to the bank, the country and Africa. This deal was the bank’s first Eurobond transaction, as well as the first Euro-denominated Eurobond transaction in Nigeria. The transaction was also the first Eurobond transaction that was covered by Nigeria’s sovereign guarantee, and also represent the first of its kind by a national Development Finance Institution in Africa.
This transaction earned the bank, the Agency Bond Deal of the Year award at the 2023 Awards event of the Bonds, Loans and ESG Capital Markets in Capetown, South Africa.
The second was the €1 billion guaranteed senior loan facility, which was concluded in August of 2022. This deal also represents the first of its kind, by any Nigerian financial institution, both in terms of its size and structure. Through this transaction, the bank was not only able to raise liquidity, but was also able to diversify its funding sources by attracting new lenders, despite the fact that the international capital markets were prohibitively expensive and shut to many borrowers at the time.
A €100 million line of credit from the French Development Agency (AFD) was also concluded in August 2022. Through this credit facility, the bank was able to expand its financing interventions in environmentally-friendly and green projects. A grant of €2.5 million was also included in this deal to support capacity building for both our staff and customers.
According to the bank, it’s intervention programmes in the year, which traversed several sectors and segments of the Nigerian economy, did not only contribute significantly to our national goals of economic recovery and job creation, but also empowered Nigerian businesses, especially micro, small and medium enterprises to remain in operations in a sustainable manner.
