TO provide adequate legal backing for its proposed holding company, a scheme of arrangement drafted by First Bank of Nigeria Plc has been submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for approval.Also, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has assured the management of the bank that the issue of double taxation would not arise when the proposed holding company formally takes off later this year.Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Bisi Onasanya, explained yesterday that the fear of 'double taxation' has been 'a major issue'.Speaking during the bank's yearly general meeting in Lagos, yesterday, Onasanya said the management of the financial institution did everything possible to ensure that the proposed holding company was not made to pay tax twice.According to Onasanya, an operating circular was signed last week Friday, adding that a gazette from the Ministry of Finance was underway.Onasanya described the CBN policy directing banks to divest from non-core subsidiaries as a good one, pointing out that shareholders would get the same numbers of shares in the proposed holding company.He also used the opportunity to inform shareholders that before the directive from CBN, the bank had concluded plans to float the proposed holding company.According to Onasanya, an extraordinary- general meeting would be held later this year to seek shareholders approval for the holding company.Explaining further, Onasanya said First bankintended to announce at least one significant regional acquisition before the end of this year.He said plans have been concluded to unveil 135 new branches before the end of the year, adding that 40 new branches were opened in the first quarter.Also yesterday, the bank signed partnership with Ria Internationalfor money transfer across the world.Onasanya said '2012 marks the beginning of the next phase of our transformation. This year, we have turned our primary focus from structuring and laying the foundations for growth, as we did over the last three years, to profitably driving accelerated growth across the various business area and boosting revenues in key segments.'We will continue to defend our scale advantage (given itsinherent benefits), drive efficiency to increase market share and customer loyalty as well as create value for our shareholders. To achieve this, we will aggressively pursue our five financial and five non-financial priorities'.Major contributions to First Bank Success in the year ended December 31, 2011, according to Onasanya were improvements to and aggressive deployment of 'our bills and electronics payments solutions to both public and private clients.'During the year, we created a bespoke cards and products portfolio that addresses the payment needs of all our customer segments and we now have the capability to issue a number of our card.'As a result, we grew the number of active cards to over 4.3million from about 1.5 million at the beginning of year. First Bank is currently the largest issuer of Verge cards in the market.Chairman of First Bank board, Prince Ajibola Afonja, in his submission said strategic priorities shaped the bank's operations in the review period.He said: 'We concentrated on boosting our employees 'inner work life' through enhanced welfare initiatives throughout the review'.Commending the board and management for the success recorded, General Secretary, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Adebayo Adeleke, said the foundation of the bank has been tested and trusted, adding that 'it would take us to the next millennium'.In his submission, another shareholder, Nonah Awoh, advised the board to put on hold issuance of bonus for now.Shareholders, during the meeting, approved proposal by the board of the bank to pay 80 kobo dividend for the year under review.The bank within the period, recorded 27.6 per cent growth in gross earnings to N296.3 billion, against N232.1 billion in 2010; 45.6 per cent growth in operating income to N259.2 billion as against N178.1billion in 2010 ; Non-interest income contribution of 25.6 per cent as against 24.3 per cent in December 2010; 93 per cent growth in profit before tax and exceptional item to N65.6 billion as against N34 billion in 2010; 48 per cent growth in profit before tax.
Click here to read full news..
