Polaris Bank is an institution that has survived near death experiences in the financial world. After its second chance to live, the bank got an opportunity to redress old ways and start a new life, deploying digital transformation, one of the potent strategies that has strengthened its balance sheet, control costs, and improve processes.
The Bank, under the leadership of Innocent Ike, its Ag. MD, has achieved significant milestones since its inception on September 21, 2018 when it started this journey, growing to earn the confidence of the banking publics and offering quality banking services at the cutting edge of technology.
In 2018, Polaris Bank had a rebirth after its precursor Skye Bank was nationalized. Skye Bank’s acquisition of Mainstreet Bank and its related party excesses had ultimately led to the downfall of the once thriving bank.The bank has undergone a restructuring following a CBN action that dissolved the bank’s then board and management. Ever since its restructurings, Polaris has impressed its customers, and its stakeholders with impressive results.
We all agree that 2020 was arguably the most challenging year in all sectors of the economy, that the world has faced in decades owing to the negative impact of COVID-19 on businesses and the economy.
Yet, the financial institution’s result for 2020 demonstrates the essence of appropriate deployment of strategies. At the weekend, Polaris Bank Limited released its full-year audited financial results for the year ended December 2020, posting a whooping profit before tax (PBT) of N28.9 billion.
According to a statement from the bank, the results showed the bank’s second year performance scorecard after two years of operation.
This, it stated, reflected a modest and prudent risk strategy to grow its portfolio of quality loans for optimal interest income generation.
The reports of profit after tax for such a challenging year like 2020, has set the bank leading some of its contemporaries and some tier 2 banks in the industry. With these results, Polaris Bank, a reincarnation of Skye Bank is certainly back in the fringes. A cursory look at the results for 2020 provides this deep insight.
Olamide Adeniji is a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspapers
Under Ike’s leadership, the bank’s impressive results prove that the bank is done with every remnant of its old sickness. Details of the results showed that 2020 performance reflected a four per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in PBT.
Mr. Ike has steered the ship of the mid-generation bank, which is striving to maintain its status as a bridge between the old and new generations. The bank is gradually proving to be the future of banking with its unprecedented successes.
In a statement by the bank, the successes were driven by the combination of the significant reduction in interest expense due to the bank’s pursuit of low interest-bearing deposits as well as lowering impairment charges on loans and other financial assets.
Also, the bank recorded Return on Asset (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) of 2.4 per cent and 29.4 percent respectively.
Its total assets stood at N1.18 trillion, which was a three per cent growth over the previous year, while shareholders’ funds grew by N14 billion (17%), largely attributable to internally generated profits.The bank said it increased its customer deposits by N56 billion, predominantly low-cost deposits in spite of difficult economic and industry conditions, and also increased its gross loan book by N38 billion.
