The Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (SLCB) has announced that they have hit a record high of Le1.1 trillion in total deposits for the financial year 2017.
According to SLCB they are the first to hit one trillion in deposits.
In addition to that they recorded the highest profits in the industry with a balance sheet size of Le1.25 trillion, also the first and highest in the industry. This also led to pre-tax profits of Le79.5 billion which is equivalent to USD $10.5 million as at end December 2017.
This the Bank says represents a growth of 122% from 2016 and describes 2017 as a year of remarkable feats. “We achieved such historic profits and sustained our local market dominance in spite of the fierce competition and low economic outturn in a pre-election year” the Bank said.
“We recorded ROA of 5.9% that exceeded our target of 3%. This sterling business performance is underpinned by the aggressive focus on cost-volume leadership and differentiation” the Bank said. “We remain on track in aligning business performance with key strategic priorities to reposition the Bank as the dominant brand.”
In their effort to ensure prioritization of organic capital growth and strong liquidity performance in a bid to reinforce their disciplined approach to regain shareholder’s confidence, there was marked improvement in the Bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio of 31.7% against the statutory minimum of 15%.
“Since 2016, the bank has embarked on an accelerated investment in digital transformation and deployed state-of-the art technologies and communications infrastructure to deliver our digital enterprise program.
“This is geared towards creating opportunities that promote financial literacy and financial inclusion, taking into the consideration a banking population ratio of 1:8, they are working to reach the unbanked through digital banking.
The bank however, is working on three primary targets of going digital, reinforcing customer centricity and leveraging technology for growth and uniqueness.
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque
Monday July 23, 2018.
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