Wema Bank vows to shut loans door to bad debtors

…Plans N20b bond issue this month

The Management of the Wema Bank Plc, has restated its determination not to allow any bad borrower access credit from the bank.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Wema Bank Plc, Mr. SegunOloketuyi, has assured prospective investors in its proposed N50 billion tier 2 capital issue that the bank has put in place concrete strategies to guarantee sustainable profitability.

This assurance, he said arises from the fact that the management has enhanced its corporate governance structures to a level that no bad borrower can access credit from the bank.

Speaking at an interactive session in Lagos recently, Olukotuyi said his team which piloted the affairs of the bank in the last seven years has a compelling story to tell Nigerian and the Diaspora business community on why the offer would be a success.

According to him, the capital raising is intended to further boost Wema Bank’s growth at a time its profit rose by 2.7 per cent in the first half of the year in an environment with average inflation rate of about 12 per cent.

“Times are hard but you don’t need to run away from your customer. We advise customers to watch their accounts. We also control our costs using technology to drive activities such that meetings that ordinarily would have entailed traveling are now conducted through conference call,” he said.

According to him, the number of the bank’s customers has increased since the coming on board of the current management as he hopes the new capital injection would further improve service delivery to customers.

Wema Bank, according to its chief executive, intends to raise about N20 billion in debt capital and another N30 billion in equities in the months to come in recognition of the nation’s weak capital market buy sentiments, which are not buoyant today to raise the amount required for the business.

“We are pre-selling the offer and the response we are getting is encouraging. If we go for tier 1, which is equity; it may lose value because demand is low.

“We have spoken to our investors and showed the compelling story of Wema. We have been in the business for seven years and every year we are adding value. We are optimistic it will be a success. We are also going to be competitive with our pricing,” he said.