Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc would soon start expanding to French-speaking West African countries in April, the bank’s chief executive announced recently.
The bank also looks forward to loan growth, topping 16 percent in 2012, with return on equity of between 23 and 25 percent. GTB grew its loan book last year by 20.6 percent to N715.84 billion ($4.5 billion), Segun Agbaje told an investors’ conference call, pushing up profit before tax 35 percent to N65.6 billion.
He said the bank had completed its English-speaking West African expansion, with subsidiaries in Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone and will drive its expansion into Francophone West Africa through a combination of acquisition and organic growth.
“Ivory Coast will open in April and it was a green field project. Over the next five to seven years we would look to expand into a number of other African countries,” Agbaje said, adding there were 10 to 12 such countries it was targeting which were growing at 7 percent and had a decent population size.
He said the lender will set up between five and seven new branches in Nigeria this year to add to its existing 177-strong branch network in Africa’s second biggest economy.