Predictions that declining yields on securities, coupled with continuing tight conditions in the credit market, would make deposit money banks (DMBs) in the country to increase their focus on other sources of income seem to be coming to pass. Already, seven lenders raked in a total of N244.15 billion as fees and commission income in the first six months of this year.
This is against the N208.38 billion that the lenders reported for the corresponding period of 2017. Generally, Nigerian banks derive their fees and commission income from account maintenance fees, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) charges, fees from other electronic banking channels, letters of credit commission, remittances fees, card-based fees, fees from brokerage commission and financial advisory fees, among others.
The seven lenders’ H1 2018 results reviewed by this newspaper were those of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), FBN Holdings (First Bank of Nigeria Limited), Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB). Others are mid-sized DMBs – Stanbic IBTC, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Diamond Bank. Specifically, ETI’s H1 2018 results show that its net fees and commission income increased by 11.30 per cent to N67.12 billion in the period under review, from N60.3 billion in the comparative period of last year.
The pan-African lender was followed by Zenith Bank, which reported that its fees and commission income rose by 23.72 per cent in the first half of this year, to N46.71 billion, from N37.75 billion reported for the comparative period in 2017. Stanbic IBTC recorded a 32.30 per cent increase in fees and commission income to N37.14 billion in the first half of 2018 from N28.807 billion it reported in the corresponding period of last year.
First Bank of Nigeria also reported growth in its fees and commission income for H1 2018 as the Tier 1 lender reportedly earned N35.05 billion for the period, which represents a 13.59 per cent increase over the N30.86 billion it posted for the comparative period last year.
Similarly, another Tier 1 bank, GTB, reported a 13.89 per cent increase in its fees and commission income for H1 2018 to N25.910 billion from N22.749 billion in the corresponding period of 2017. FCMB and Diamond Bank also posted higher figures of fees and commission income for H1 2018 compared with what they reported last year. However, while FCMB recorded a 37.47 per cent increase to N13.011 billion from N9.466 billion, Diamond Bank’s went up by N24 million to N19.208 […]