Skye Bank Plc has recorded a gross earnings of N101.4 billion for the fourth quarter ended September 30, 2009 as against N74.6 billion recorded during the corresponding period in 2008. The performance shows an increase of 36 per cent.
 

Similarly, the bank’s loan portfolio during the period under review stood at N273 billion as against N244 billion during the same period in 2008, indicating a growth of 12 per cent. The bank’s capital adequacy ratio also steadied at 16 per cent which is far above the regulatory minimum of 10 per cent.

According to the unaudited fourth quarter result sent to the Nigeria Stock Exchange, the bank’s savings deposit grew by 3 per cent from 6 per cent in 2008 to 9 per cent during the review period.

As an evidence of its operational efficiency, its cost to income declined to 51 per cent from 72 per cent in 2008, which indicates that the bank is more efficient in controlling cost and turning income to profit.

However, while the bank’s profit before tax stood at N19..5 billion during the review period, its profit after tax slumped to a loss of N11 billion due to a loan loss provision of N32 billion in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive that full provision be made for all non performing loans.

The bank said however that it has since recovered over N2 billion out of the amount classified as non performing between when the joint CBN/NDIC test was conducted and the present time, and expressed the desire to make more recovery.

Skye Bank is one of the top four banks in the area of internally generated revenue collections in the country and accounts for about 10 per cent market share. It has IGR mandates in some states of the federation which include Rivers, Kogi, Kaduna, Lagos, among others.

It is also one the top five banks in payment transactions as officially attested to by the leading switch company in the country, Interswitch, and won several awards for efficiency in payment transactions at the just concluded E-Payments awards held in Calabar.