‘Sterling Bank to consolidate on positive ratings by international agencies’

The Executive Director, Finance & Strategy of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Abubakar Suleiman has assured that the bank would consolidate on the positive ratings by the various international rating agencies by ensuring that it continues to deliver quality banking services to its customers and adhere strictly with best practice as applied to banking worldwide.

Abubakar who attributed the ratings by Global Credit Rating (GCR), Moody’s and Lafferty Bank Quality Ratings (LBQR) to the Bank’s strong performance and resilience amidst challenging operating conditions also noted that the ratings is a validation of the Bank’s business models.

It would be recalled that GCR earlier in the month, affirmed Sterling Bank Plc’s national long term and short term ratings of BBB(NG) and A3(NG) respectively, with the outlook accorded as stable.

Similarly, Moody’s Investors Service had also assigned B2 Issuer rating to the bank.

This according to Moody’s is a confirmation of the bank’s “solid assets qualitymetrics and provision coverage, improvements to the Bank’s Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and risk management processes as well as its high liquidity buffers and a solid deposit funding base”.

Assessing the Bank’s quality, the Lafferty Bank Quality Ratings (LBQR)also this year, reckoned Sterling Bank to be amongst the top 10 in the world, top three in Africa (after Capitec and Barclays Africa) and the top bank in Nigeria.

The Lafferty Group approach to Bank ratings involves an evaluation of key quantitative and qualitative criteria such as strategy, culture, customer care, brand promise and financial performance.

Michael Lafferty, Chairman, Lafferty Group had statement that “banks that score well on Lafferty Bank Quality Ratings tend to trade at a premium price to their tangible book value”.

GCR in a report made available to newsmen by Sterling Bank in Lagos at the weekend attributed the Bank’s rating to its strong performance and resilience amidst challenging operating conditions.

Part of the GCR Report reads: “Sterling’s total assets amounted to N796.4bn (representing a market share of 2.8 per cent) at FYE15. The bank’s capital base grew 12.2 per cent in FYE15, solely through internal capital generation, with the risk weighted capital adequacy ratio (“RWCAR”) improving to 17.5 per cent at FYE15 (FYE14: 14.0 per cent). To further strengthen its capital base and support asset growth, the bank is in the process of raising up to N35 billion Tier II capital expected to be concluded in the third quarter of FYE 16.”

Sterling Bank Plc, “the one-customer bank”, is a full-service national commercial bank with an asset base above N800 billion with over 187 business offices and more than 800 ATMs nationwide. In over 55 years of service, Sterling Bank (formerly NAL Bank) has evolved from the nation’s pre-eminent investment banking institution to a fully-fledged commercial bank. Furthermore, with a strong national presence, Sterling Bank is one of the top 30 most capitalized institutions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The bank is also one of Nigeria’s fastest growing banks and is recognised as a dynamic financial services organisation.