21 February 2019: CBN imposed a hefty penalty on Nigeria’s bellwether bank for violating banking regulations in the year 2019. The N21 million fine is clearly depicted in their financial statement for the year ending Dec’2019, which was released earlier today.

The Bank explains that the reason for this sanction was due to “contraventions of the regulations of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 1991.”

Despite the astronomical penalties, Zenith Banks Plc boasted a N208.8 billion profit in 2019, which translates to an 8% growth from the previous year- which recorded a mere ( in retrospect) N193 billion

The detailed breakdown of the fine includes:

• N2 million for insufficient document of newly opened accounts, 
• N2 million for non-compliance with Automated Teller Machines (ATM) installation procedures
• N2 million for non-compliance with the anti-money laundering procedures within the stated financial year.
• N15 million penalty for irregular classification of corporate accounts.

The tier-1 Bank also gloated about a 5% rise in their gross earnings from N 630.3 billion in Dec’18 to N662.3 billion in 2019. Their Non-interest income also show up from N179.9 billion in 2018 to N231.1 billion in 2019.

Fees on electronic products reported a massive growth of 108% from N20.4 billion in 2018 to N42.5 billion in 2019.

Unsurprisingly, the Profit before tax also rose by 5% from N232 billion to N243 billion in the current year.

Their Return on equity (ROE) stands at 23.8%, while their Return on assets (ROA) stands at 3.4%, Liquidity (57.3%) and capital adequacy (22.0%) ratios remained above regulatory thresholds.

Despite increased loans, analysts feel that the bank's loans to deposit ratio, at 56.3%, came short of CBN's 65.0% guidelines.

Reporting for EasyKobo on Friday , 21 February 2020 in Lagos, Nigeria