Wema Bank aims to grow loans between one and two percent this year, after it achieved 22.3 percent growth last year, to conserve its capital as Nigeria enters a second year of recession, a senior executive said on Friday.
Chief Finance Officer Tunde Mabawonku said the bank had repaid a 50 billion naira ($164 million) seven-year loan it got from the central bank last year which knocked its capital ratio to 11.1 percent at the end of December from 15.1 percent a year earlier.
He said higher loan charge in 2016 also affected capital ratios which were still above a 10 percent regulatory limit.
“We intend to do a 20 billion naira issue by end of second quarter or early third quarter,” Mabawonku told Reuters.
The debt raise will boost capital ratios to 14 percent, he said, adding the mid-tier lender needed about 8 billion naira to reach that level. Mabawonku said it would also raise equity afterwards, likely next year.
The bank managed 6.5 billion naira in debt last year due to high interest rates. Mabawonku said Wema had registered a 50 billion naira bond programme and has appointed advisers for the debt sale this year.
Wema Bank on Monday posted a pretax profit of 3.28 billion naira for 2016 up from 2.99 billion naira a year ago.
Shares in Wema Bank have underperformed the broader market both this year and in 2016. They have fallen 7.4 percent since the start of January while the main index is down 4.2 percent.
Wema Bank shares slumped 46 percent last year as the banking sector in general, and smaller lenders in particular, came under pressure from the currency crisis and economic slowdown.
Africa’s biggest economy entered its first recession in 25 years in 2016, brought on by low oil prices, which has hammered its foreign reserves and created chronic dollar shortages, frustrating businesses and individuals.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
