First Bank scoops N28 billion from electronic banking fees

First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc has generated a total revenue of about N28 billion from electronic transactions in the first half of the year (HY 2021).

A breakdown of the bank’s unaudited financial statement for the first half of the year shows that revenue from e-banking increased by 32.7% year-on-year, from the N21.72 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year.

It is pertinent to note that electronic banking revenues are generated through various digital transactions utilized by the customers of a bank. The revenue is spawned through fees and commissions gotten through transactions like mobile applications, Automated Teller Machines (ATM), USSD channels, internet banking, Point of Sales (POS) payments, and agency banking.

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The increase in electronic banking fees was pivotal to the growth recorded in the bank’s overall fee and commission income, which grew by 18.46%, from N55.78 billion recorded in the first half of 2020, to N69.08 billion posted in the corresponding period of this year.

This growth is coming on the back of a slew of stiffer competition posed by challenger banks such as V-Bank and Kuda Bank, which have in recent times attracted significant funding and expanded their capital base. These banks offer zero fees as an attractive selling point which they hope will sway customers from the big commercial banks.

Further checks into the historical trend of the e-banking revenue scooped by the bank revealed that the recent amount is the highest posted by the bank in the first half of the last eight years. The diagram below summarizes the amount that the bank has posted in the first half of the last eight years.

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According to the data sourced from the half-year financial statements of the bank in the last eight years, the top-tier bank has generated a cumulative N121.46 billion as e-banking fees.

Industry comparison

At the time of writing this report, other top tier banks like GTB, Access, Zenith and UBA had not released their half-year results, making it difficult to compare the bank’s revenue from digital services with those of its competitors for the current period under review.

However, other indigenous commercial banks that have released their 2021 half-year results, recorded the following amount as revenue from electronic banking.

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FCMB – N6.69 billion (+54.5% YoY)

Sterling Bank – N3.6 billion (+39.8% YoY)

Union Bank – N3.55 billion (-3.0% YoY)

Unity Bank – N1.57 billion (+23.3% YoY)

Wema Bank – N1.22 billion (+7.0% YoY)

What you should know

Recall that First Bank recently posted a profit after tax of N38.05 billion for the first half of the year (H1, 2021). The bank also reported a Net Fees and Commissions of N57.4 billion and printed earnings per share of N1.05 during the aforementioned period.

Earlier in June this year, Nairametrics reported the commencement of a N6.98 flat-fee charge on all USSD transactions in Nigeria.

FBN Holdings Plc shares closed trading on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Group Limited (NGX) for the month ended July 30, 2021 at N7.40.