In its efforts to encourage the informal sector to contribute to the nation’s economy, SunTrust Bank granted N23.96 billion credit to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in 2019 according to the bank’s annual report.
The chairman, Olanrewaju Shittu who spoke at the bank’s fourth annual general meeting, held over the weekend in Lagos, also noted that the bank was able to grow its balance sheet by 24.61 per cent moving from N43.97 billion to N54.79 billion despite the economic challenges in the year under review.
Although oil has been the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, the informal sector, however, has been the engine room, engaging the teeming population and creating wealth. Data shows the small businesses that cut across every sector of the economy are responsible for 48 per cent of national GDP in the last five years.
With a total 17.4 million across the country, Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) account for 96 per cent of businesses, 50 per cent of industrial jobs and nearly 90 per cent of the manufacturing sector, in terms of the number of enterprises. while 84 per cent of employment in the country is held in the informal sector.
SunTrust Managing Director, Halima Buba, however, assured of effective funding of the real sector furtherance of the commitment of the bank to grow the nation’s economy
According to her: “We are committed to the growth and development of our economy and this can only be done through effective funding of the real sector. As you can see, we increased our loans and advances by 185.41 per cent from N8.4 billion to N23.96 billion and I am assuring you that we will surely do more because we are committed to the growth of the real sector, knowing full well its potential and capacity to drive growth and development of our economy “.
She further said: “In line with our strategy, we are going to aggressively drive SMEs transactions … and part of our strategy is retail banking, we want to create a retail bank of choice and certainly SMEs is the engine room for the growth of any economy and to provide financing services, to support the SMEs will be the only way, we can support the growth of the economy and particularly in line with the vision of the CBN and the current administration”
Delighted that customers have significantly increased their deposit to the bank to the tune of N25.7 billion, an increase of 38.03 per cent, Halima Buba assured that as the bank grows, more funds will be set aside for corporate social responsibility as SunTrust Bank is poised to make people and communities thrive.
She also said: “The bank increased the headcount to ensure increased business growth higher than the previous year, this amongst other caused increase in customer deposits compared with the previous year by 38.03 per cent, from N18.64 billion to N25.73 billion and a growth in the bank’s total assets from N43.97 billion to N54.79 billion”
Sounding very optimistic about the future of the bank, Halima Buba Said: “Despite the threats to growth, the Bank will take advantage of opportunities presented in the coming financial year to improve earnings, profitability and asset quality with a view to delivering value to our esteemed shareholders.”
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