A firm, Petra Micrifinance Bank (MfB) has assured its customers that it was already working not only to meet the N200million recapitalisation order of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but also targeting surpassing the ceiling. It has therefore urged its shareholders to invest in the bank.
The bank gave the assurance during its 10th anniversary and Annual General Meeting (AGM), in Lagos at the weekend.
The Chairman, Board of Directors of the MfB, Mr. Victor Dike, said told the shareholders that the bank is ahead in the process of complying with the new minimum capital regime announced by the CBN. He said the bank will strive to continue to move ahead of the market in other things as well.
“In this regard, on behalf of the board and management, I request you all to kindly invest in shares of the bank. Existing shareholders are enjoined to increase their investment in the bank,” he siad.
According to the chairman, the journey started in 2008, an initiative of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) to fulfil the desire to attend to specific needs of the active poor and small businesses in both the Catholic community and the larger society.
He said: “Petra MfB was established to help the active poor, improve the standard of living of families and assist in bridging the gap between the rich and the poor through access to finance to the ‘enterprising poor’ who are Catholics and other Nigerians who are actively engaged in genuine economic activities but with low capital base and limited access to finance.”
He said the bank is making steady progress as it aimed to become the National Bank of the Catholic Church in Nigeria and also a leading MfB in the country.
He said the firm has started the process of growing its capital base in line with its dream of a bigger bank, adding that earlier in the year, its board engaged the services of a leading issuing house, Meristem Securities Limited, to support the process of raising additional capital of about N1billion in addition to its current paid-up capital of N134 million.
“We are currently working on the compliance requirements that are needed by the Security and Exchange Commision (SEC) for the approval of the share issue. At the time we started the process of raising capital, we were not aware, we were working towards a mandatory future,” Dike said.
Also speaking, its Managing Director, Mrs. Joyce Muotoh Akpome, said the social environment including security, irregular power supply and the vestiges of the recessionary period remained challenging.
She however said the remained significantly resilient despite these challenges, adding that the bank strengthened its risk management framework, which resulted in improvement in the bank’s risk asset portfolio.
She said the bank’s operational performance of last year provided indication of a promising and sustaining future.
The occasion of the 10th year anniversary according to her, was the right moment for all stakeholders of the bank to renew their pledge to further strengthen the position of the institution.
She assured that the bank would remain innovative, dedicated, technology-driven and above all, continue to provide financial support to its new and existing customers.
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