FirstInland Bank to open 20 new branches... targets west coast market

Lanre Oyetade, Lagos

From left, Hadiza Ambursa, Assistant
General Manager, Access Bank Plc;Chief
Charles Ugwu, Minister, Federal Ministry of
Commerce & Industry; and Roosevelt
Ogbonna, Deputy General Manager,
Access Bank Plc at the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry Private Sector
stakeholders’ forum held at the Muson
Centre, Lagos, recently.

Managing Director of FirstInland Bank Plc Mr. Okey Nwosu, has disclosed that the bank will open additional twenty branches as part of its business strategy to take banking services in its most quality form to all the nooks and crannies of the country.

He also disclosed that the bank plans to open up for business in the west African Sub region as part of its initiative of taking banking services beyond the Nigerian shores to sub-Saharan Africa and the global financial market. The objective is to maximise benefits to all stakeholders.

Speaking during a chat with top business and financial journalists in Lagos , Nwosu explained that the direction set by the management was to ensure the bank achieves set targets and is elevated to a position of dominance in all the areas of general financial services it is operating.

“Part of our growth and expansion strategy is to shore up shareholder’s funds in excess of $1 billion, expand the network of branches, rejuvenate our brand, continuously launch innovative pro-ducts, deliver excellent services to customers and more importantly, meet and surpass shareholders’ expectations,” said the bank chief.

Leveraging on its achievements to year- end April 2007; the synergy from its four-way bank consolidation and the impetus from the focused and competent management, FirstInland Bank is perfecting its systems and processes to make it to industry’s top position locally and also emerge strong global player.

Analysts attribute the success recorded by the bank in the past year to improved cost efficient processes and the steadfastness of the management to deliver on the original vision of the consolidation, which is high and quality performance.

The Managing Director said the bank has employed the very best in people, technology and processes which are benchmarked against global best practices in bringing valued-driven solutions to its teeming customers and the industry at large.

FirstInland set up 30 new braches last year and plans to open over 20 new branches before the end of the current financial year. It also plans to open outlets in the West, Central and East Africa regions. The bank’s presence in Ghana through the establishment of an e-payment company to render DSTV subscription and other flash-me-cash payments are said to be enjoying wide acceptability.

Besides the numbers, “FirstInland Bank has continued to make commitments through various interventions to positively impart on the communities where it operates,” said the Managing Director.

First Inland Bank through First Atlantic Bank, pioneered the use of mobile phones for electronic money transfer through its flash-me-cash product, the bank also has in its stable, the Saphire Account among other innovative products.

First Bank shares allotment challenge

Friday Ekeoba, Lagos

The over N400 billion oversubscription enjoyed by First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) in its recently concluded offers may, after all, be creating a huge problem for the bank. Indications to this emerged Tuesday at the 3- day workshop organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for business reporters in Lagos. Mr. Ibrahim Bolaji Bello, Assistant Director in charge of the Lagos zonal office of SEC, said while delivering a paper entitled “Initial Public Offering of Securities and Parties to the Issues Bonds Trading, Futures, Options and Equities”that the issue of allotment of First Bank shares to investors constituted a serious problem to the bank.

It will be recalled that (FBN had earlier this year come to the market to raise a total of N100 billion through an hybrid offer, a total unit of shares at N33.50 per public offer and a right issue with unit cost of the offer at N32.00. Bello said, “There is problem of allotment. The bank has over N600 billion over subscription and it has not submitted its allotment papers to the commission as at Tuesday.”

The SEC director, who said the situation was not the fault of FBN, noted that the law says that money must be returned under 48 hours after completion of offer. “How do you return N400 billion in one week, unless the investors have electronic account.” Bello, who explained that most Nigerians do not have accounts, said the commission have been in the forefront of creating awareness among Nigerian investors of the need to have accounts with banks in order to facilitate payment when situations like this arise or even to get their dividend as at when due.

Speaking further, the SEC director noted that, the huge volume of application arising from the FBN offer was also a problem on its own. ”We are putting pressure on First Bank, that investors get their money when allotment is not made to them,” he added. He acknowledged that, since the bank has branches all over the country, disbursing the money oversubscribed in the offer would not serve as a problem to the bank.