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Tag: Sterling Bank

  • Sterling Bank introduces flexible work plan for staff

    Sterling Bank Plc has introduced a flexible work plan for its staff.

    The Flexi-time and Flexi-place, which comply with global best human resource practices, according to a statement from the lender, is aimed at introducing flexibility in work arrangements for the bank’s staff.

    The Flexi-time arrangement allows members of staff the opportunity to determine their own working hours by choosing a convenient time to come to work within the options provided by the lender.

    Similarly, the Flexi-place package gives staff the opportunity to choose a convenient location from which they can carry out their job. In this pilot phase, staff, particularly those in the head office are encouraged to select locations closer to their residence.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Strategy & Finance, Abubakar Suleiman, who described the pilot stage as highly successful, expressed his optimism that the initiative would enhance productivity of staff, promote bonding among family members, reduce the stress of waking very early and spending long hours in traffic to get to the office early.

    “Employees  in the cites are faced with the onerous yet elusive goal of maintaining work-life balance as they are confronted with the challenge of waking up very early to beat the traffic going to the office and also pass through same stress going home in the evening.

    “We recognise that the fast-paced nature of cities is likely to continue to deprive workers from spending quality time with their families as they spend a lot of time commuting to and from work. With the staggered resumption time offered by these initiatives, staff will be able to determine preferred and more convenient work hours. We believe with this initiative, they would be in a better position to spend quality time with their family, commute at more convenient traffic times and spend less on medical care thus become more productive at work.”

  • Sterling Bank fetes IDPs in Jos

    Sterling Bank fetes IDPs in Jos

    It was all smiles for children at the Internally Displayed Persons (IDPs Camp) in Jos, the Plateau State Capital as top Management of Sterling Bank Plc joined them in the celebration of the 2016 Children’s Day.

    Apart from celebrating and dining with the children at the Camp, the Bank’s Management team, headed by its Executive Director, Finance and Strategy, Abubakar Sulaiman, represented by the Group Head, Strategy & Communications, Mr. Shina Atilola, also donated various food items, clothes and toys to the delight of the kids.

    In other activities to mark the day, the Bank according to a statement, also hosted students from both public and private schools to a party at its corporate head office in Lagos. The Bank also donated its financial literacy books; “Funds” and “My Little Money Book’ to the Lagos State Government for onward distribution to pupils and students of the schools in a bid to promote financial literacy among the students.

    Ensuring the online community was not left behind, a “selfie campaign” encouraging parents to post “selfies” taken with their children was initiated; family and friends of contestants were encouraged to vote and the top three posts were awarded prizes. A “selfie” is a photograph taken of oneself with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media.

    Speaking at the reception held for the children in Lagos, Abubakar explained that as a responsible financial institution, the Bank will continue to support any worthy initiative that would impact children positively irrespective of the financial institutions the kids or parents bank with.

    At the IDP camp, the Bank’s Director stated that the kids were a product of circumstance. He therefore called on all to support these ones to ensure their dream of a bright future can become reality.

  • Sterling Bank, LEAP Africa partner

    Sterling Bank has promised LEAP Africa, a leadership development non-profit organisation, that it will  partner the group as long as it continues to help develop entrepreneurship in the country.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Sulaiman Abubakar, said Sterling Bank is partnering LEAP for the second year running to show its commitment towards creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to operate in the country.

    His words: “We are not involved in this to show off. We are in it to show to people that it is not only money that drives Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), but others like good book keeping; developing robust business plan, effective corporate governance and finally funding make an enterprise to be successful not funding alone.

    “We have seen over the years that businesses fail not because there was no money in them, but because they were not operated with best practices. That is why we, as a bank, are facing training and retraining of entrepreneurs to be able to equip them with the needed skills to run their companies.

    “We will do whatever that is possible to help SMEs. You cannot expect to fund SMEs today and expect to start making money immediately. It is a process.”

    Executive Director, LEAP Africa, Mrs. Iyadunni Olubode, said underlining this year’s theme is the recognition that many Nigerian entrepreneurs struggle with sourcing funds due to both internal and external challenges.

    However, successful business development requires additional sources of capital to support growth and enable strategic investments. LEAP Africa, she said, is available to help business owners gain deeper insight and acquire the relevant skills in entrepreneurship and business.

  • Sterling Bank backs Ogun investment forum

    Sterling Bank backs Ogun investment forum

    As part of its drive to partner stakeholders in the growth of the nation’s economy both at the state and national levels, Sterling Bank has announced its sponsorship of the third edition of Ogun State Investment Forum.

    The theme of the two-day event, starting from today, is “Ogun State: Open for Business- Emerging Economic Powerhouse”.

    It would be recalled that the Bank also sponsored the 2014 edition of the programme and stood out as a major partner with other state governments, especially in the area of education and economic development. Last year, the Bank presented an e-library to the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti in Ekiti State and commissioned co-branded verve/identity cards, which serve as access control system and identity management solution for staff and students of Benue State University in Makurdi.

    Also, in line with the plan of the Federal Government to diversify the economy owing to the declining revenue generated from crude oil exports, Sterling Bank has remained committed in supporting production and consumption of locally made goods and services by assisting local manufacturers with the introduction of the “made in Nigeria” week and its partnership with Innoson Motors; the first in the manufacturing of locally made vehicles.

  • Moody’s reaffirms Sterling Bank’s ratings

    Moody’s reaffirms Sterling Bank’s ratings

    Moody’s Investors Service, a leading global rating agency, has re-affirmed the resilience of the Sterling Bank franchise by maintaining the bank’s standalone Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) ratings of B3.

    BCAs are inputs to Moody’s joint-default analysis for ratings on issuers subject to extraordinary government support. It measures the financial strength of issuers subject to extraordinary government support, which can include banks, sub-sovereigns and government-related corporate issuers (GRIs). It explicitly excludes the likelihood of extraordinary government support in the event that a bailout is required, but does incorporate support as may be necessary for ordinary operations.

    The Rating Agency in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos, expressed confidence that with its current profile, Sterling Bank will remain resilient in the face of more challenging operating conditions given its adequate capital and liquidity buffers.

    The agency in the statement explained further that: “Sterling Bank’s B2 deposit ratings continue to incorporate one notch of rating uplift on account of government support as the bank’s ratings remain lower than the sovereign rating and it’s foreign currency deposit rating is now in line with the lowered foreign currency deposit ceiling of B2″.

    Specifically, Moody’s rated Sterling Bank B3 in Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment; B1 (cr) in Long-Term Counter-party Risk Assessment; B2 in Long-Term Issuer Rating (Local and Foreign Currency); B2 in Long-Term Deposit Rating (Local and Foreign Currency) while the outlook changed to stable.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Finance & Strategy, Abubakar Suleiman, noted that the reaffirmation of the rating is a testimony of the resilience of the bank to remain strong and professional despite the challenging operating environment in which it operates.

  • Sterling Bank optimistic as core banking profit rises

    Sterling Bank optimistic as core banking profit rises

    Sterling Bank Plc rode on the back of improving internal efficiency to reduce funding costs and improve profitability of its core banking operations in the first quarter of 2016.

    Key extracts of the unaudited report and accounts of the Bank for the period ended last March 31, showed appreciable improvements in core underlying fundamentals, although macro-economic and industry headwinds subdued overall performance.

    The report indicated that net interest margin, which measures the profitability of a bank’s lending operations, improved to 8 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 as against 7.4 per cent recorded in the comparable period of 2015. The bank tightened grips on costs with cost of funds improving from 5.9 per cent in first quarter 2015 to 5.3 per cent in first quarter 2016.

    Major highlights showed steady performance with net interest income increasing by 24.7 per cent to N11.4 billion in 2016 as against N9.2 billion in 2015. This was driven by a 14.4 per cent decrease in interest expense resulting in a 940 basis points improvement in net interest margin to 56.9 per cent. However, profit before tax, on the face of it, declined by 30.6 per cent to N2.8 billion in 2016 as against N4.0 billion in 2015. But when adjusted for non-recurring items, which would have brought the 2015 figure to N2.7 billion, the 2016 figure represents a 3 per cent increase on fourth quarter 2015 and 2.4 per cent improvement over the same period last year. Also, while profit after tax declined by 35 per cent to N2.5 billion as against N3.9 billion in 2015, adjustment for non-recurring items would bring the 2015 first quarter figure to N2.6 billion. This depicts a marginal decline of 2.6 per cent.

    Outlining the bank’s outlook, Managing Director, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Adeola, said the bank adopted a cautious, but progressive approach to business due to the challenging macro-economic conditions.

    He noted that subdued crude oil prices, fuel and power supply disruptions, as well as significant foreign exchange shortages have persisted, increasing the cost of doing business and heightening the pressure on household income.

    He pointed out that as the nation’s inflation rate witnessed an uptick from 9.6 per cent in December 2015 to 12.8 per cent in March 2016, the resultant monetary tightening measures could further challenge the operating environment.

    With these, Adeola said the management of the bank prioritised balance sheet efficiency, cost efficiency and prudent credit risk management, which ensured that non-performing loan remained flat below the regulatory threshold of 5 per cent.

    “We are confident that our goals for 2016 will be met despite the subdued outlook for the Nigerian economy. Our optimism comes from the various investments focus on operating efficiency that the bank had made over the past year, which are now starting to pay off. Our plan for the year is to prioritise operating efficiency, ensure moderate loan growth, while continuing to diversify funding sources as our retail banking strategy matures,” Adeola said.

  • Sterling Bank flags off Made in Nigeria Week

    Sterling Bank flags off Made in Nigeria Week

    Sterling Bank has concluded plans to champion the use of locally manufactured goods and services by initiating what it has described as the “Made in Nigeria” week, which started yesterday and will continue till April 29.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Finance & Strategy, Abubakar Suleiman said: “The week is an opportunity for us to promote a sense of pride and confidence in Nigerian grown brands starting with our people. For the entire week, we intend to showcase and celebrate everything Nigerian as a brand that supports our indigenously manufactured products.”

    Other initiatives already undertaken by the bank to promote local entrepreneurs include its partnership with Innoson Motors Limited, the first indigenous manufacturer of vehicles, to finance the purchase of locally made vehicles produced by the company; the financing and business patronage of Labana Rice mills, an indigenous rice mill, amongst others.

    The campaign will also serve as an avenue to create employment, especially for the Nigerian entrepreneurs involved in the production of these goods. The patronage of local manufacturers of attires for instance, is expected to boost the local economy, especially those in the fashion and shoe making industry, adding that the initiative was one of the numerous initiatives the Bank was undertaking to enrich the lives of Nigerians.

    Suleiman said: “This campaign comes at a critical time in the country, a time when there is an increasing call to look inwards, especially in the face of the current foreign exchange pressures resulting from the country’s overdependence on oil exports for foreign exchange and global oil sector downturn driven by the falling oil prices. These have in turn dampened economic growth and negatively impacted other sectors with prices of imported products and inputs rising significantly.

     

  • Sterling Bank extends MSME workshops to more cities

    Sterling Bank extends MSME workshops to more cities

    To boost entrepreneurship, Sterling Bank has extended its Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Academy workshop to major cities in the country.

    According to the bank, plans have been concluded to hold the MSME Academy workshop in Port Harcourt next month while the event will also take place in Kaduna, Onitsha,  Ibadan and Lagos.

    The Executive Director, Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, who disclosed this at a briefing in Lagos at the weekend, said the decision to extend the workshop to other parts of the country was as result of the outstanding success of the maiden edition of the event which took place in Lagos last year.

    He said:“Last year’s workshop was a beautiful event. It was very successful and we have already started seeing its impact. So, we decided that it should be done on a larger scale.”

    He also pointed out that Nigeria’s huge size made it imperative for the lender to hold the workshop on a larger scale.

    Suleiman reiterated the bank’s commitment to boosting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), stressing that this would go a long way in tackling the country’s worsening unemployment problem.

    He said: “The unemployment problem is getting worse. In fact, my personal view is that as a country, our number one problem is unemployment. It is at the root of insecurity, poverty and other problems. The only way it can be solved is to boost SMEs so that they can create jobs. This is something everyone should be involved in and not left for the government and big companies alone to handle.”

    Suleiman stressed that the Sterling Bank’s Academy is aimed at capacity building for existing and emerging Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprises to enable them navigate the several challenges in the environment and focus on being great at their core competencies.

    As he put it: “Our ambition is to contribute to the establishment of SMES that can find a way around the infrastructural challenges, complex laws,  bureaucratic and tax issues and focus on their core areas.“

    He noted that instead of “throwing money” at SMEs and watching them fail, Sterling Bank’s vision of the Academy is that through it small and medium entrepreneurs would no longer be distracted by the obstacles that usually stand in their way.

  • Sterling Bank, MAN promote manufacturing

    Sterling Bank Plc is partnering the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to create more business opportunities for local manufacturers. The partnership is coming ahead of the maiden Manufacturing Expo holding this week in Lagos.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Abubakar Suleiman, said the lender has been looking at ways of promoting the real sector development including empowering entrepreneurs.

    “We are looking at people who want to do business in Nigeria. We want to work with people who produce locally because that is where the business and government is focusing,” he said during a press briefing to announce the expo in Lagos.

    The bank, he said, was always willing to actively participate in initiatives that will encourage local manufacturers and other entrepreneurs as they are key to the industrial resurgence of the country.

    Suleiman emphasised that the prevailing harsh economic climate in the country, especially the scarcity of foreign exchange, had made it imperative for organisations to assist the government in promoting local production of goods and services.

    He pointed out that the expo will provide local manufacturers a platform to network and learn new ways of increasing productivity.

    According to him, “the worst thing you can do is to throw money at the manufacturing sector”. “The fundamental thing is for entrepreneurs to have specific knowledge that will help them to grow their business. They should know about governments’ policies and how these affect them,” he added.

    He further explained that the bank was sponsoring the expo because it believed the event will help increase the demand for locally produced goods.

    MAN Director, Corporate Affairs, Oluwasegun Oshodipe, said the group is confident that the partnership with the bank will deepen the real sector development, saying that manufacturers still face daunting challenges, including poor electricity supply and other infrastructure.

  • Sterling Bank may acquire Keystone Bank

    Sterling Bank may acquire Keystone Bank

    •Eyes another northern lender

    Sterling Bank Plc is planning to buy one or two mid-sized commercial lenders before the end of the year, The Nation has learnt.

    Investigations showed that the lender is seriously eyeing Keystone Bank Limited the last of the three bridged lenders bought by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

    Sterling Bank an insider source said, is also considering buying another mid-tier lender with strong presence in the northern part of the country.The targeted bank  has been grappling with low liquidity in recent months due to sharp falls in the value of the naira, crude oil prices and increased regulatory pressure.

    Sterling Bank’s Chief Finance Officer, Abubakar Suleiman, told Reuters that these factors are forcing banks to recapitalise. He said his bank expected a further 20 per cent devaluation in the naira, eroding capital ratios for several of its rivals exposed to foreign currency assets and potentially triggering mergers.

    Sterling Bank CEO, Yemi Adeola, disclosed late last year that six commercial banks are likely to seek mergers and acquisitions this year. The mergers, he said, are triggered by the shock created in their assets and balance sheet sizes in the face of declining oil prices.

    Crude oil prices have fallen to as low as $32.11 per barrel from over $110 per barrel a year ago. This has adversely affected banks’ oil assets. Besides, the level of non-performing loans in the sector has risen.

    Adeola said he envisaged possible shrinking in the number of local banks this year. There are already moves suggesting that trend, he said, but did not name any bank.

    The bank chief said two international banks were discussing with local lenders on possible acquisition. He said last year was a challenging one for the economy and the banking sector, adding that banks are now finding ways to wriggle out of these challenges, including a tough regulatory environment.

    He said oil price could also drop further, and called for a more efficient tax system, blocking of revenue leakages and focus on areas neglected in the past – “from agric to solid minerals and other commodities we have in abundance. We also need to support Small and Medium Enterprises to create opportunities that will create jobs,” he said.

    Adeola said the Nigerian banking industry was the most regulated sector in the country thereby affecting banks’ performance.  “To say that everything will be rosy in 2016 will be deceiving ourselves. I think if the opportunities arise for banks to pursue further consolidation, we could see two or three. I also know that one or two international banks are interested in pursuing acquisitions in Nigeria and they are indeed having discussions already.

    “So, you could see a combination of one or two international banks taking over one or two Nigerian banks or merging with them. And nothing also stops two or three Nigerian banks having merger discussions in 2016”, he said.

    Adeola said Sterling Bank is ready for either a merger or an acquisition, provided it will add value to stakeholders. “For us at Sterling Bank, we are always open to mergers or acquisitions. We are open to anything that can give us scale. Whether it is a merger or acquisition, we are open, but the synergy must be there. We must see the benefits clearly. Any merger must be one that ensures stakeholders will benefit more; otherwise it will not be worthwhile, he added.

    Adeola added: “We have every cause to remain optimistic in 2016, despite the fact that it is going to be a challenging year for the banking sector. We are determined to keep the momentum going. We first started a merger of five banks, and all the consultants predicted that all the entities will struggle for the next 10 years. It was challenging but we got out of it.  Experience has shown globally, that mergers don’t work, especially when you are merging five institutions.”