For Ahmed Kure, managing director, Enterprise Bank, nothing could be better than fulfilling the mandate of steering the bank towards stability and profitability after going through turbulent times. Ahead of the divestment of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, from the bank, Kuru said his management team had been building on the books of the bank at an average of 20 per cent yearly in terms of deposit and risk assets.

“When we came on board, our loan-to-deposit ratio was less than five per cent, but today it is in excess of 60 per cent because we are building our loan book. In terms of profitability, last year we closed in excess of N11 billion. Our rate of return on equity is also increasing. Our return on capital is one of the best in the industry because you may see some banks declaring N50 billion, N100 billion, but what we need to look at the capital deployed. If I am able to declare N5 billion or N10 billion on equity of N25 billion and somebody is declaring N100 billion on a capital of N100 billion, it tells you the efficiency ratio. Averagely, on a year-on-year basis, we have been building our books by 20 per cent” said Kuru.

Kuru was emphatic that the financial performance of Enterprise Bank has been impressive over the years, as the loan book has grown tremendously. For instance, he said in 2011, the operating loan book of the bank was less than N5 billion but under his watch, it has moved to around N76 billion and this year’s loan book target is around N130 billion.

However, Kuru expressed concern that the recent upward review of cash reserve requirement, CRR, to 50 per cent by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, could affect the bank’s lending. “The bank’s revenue strength is from lending because it is the core line of income, income can also be generated from fees and commission. The government plays a vital role in the banking sector because public sector funds used to be profitable but with the increase in the CRR the whole thing works on the reverse. The increase in CRR has affected the bank but from a professional perspective, it was necessary,” said Kuru.