GTBank Appoints Osaretin Demuren As Chairman

One of the Nigeria’s foremost financial brand,Guaranty Trust Bank Plc has appointed Mrs Osaretin Demuren as the new chairman of the bank following the retirement of Mr Gilbert Imomoh.

Demuren, who joined the board of the GTBank in 2013, had a successful career with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which spanned about 33 years and was the first female director of the CBN.

She served as the director, Trade and Exchange Department and was deployed to serve as the director, Human Resources Department in 2004, a position which she held until her retirement from the Central Bank of Nigeria in December 2009. Demuren holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Statistics from the Moscow Institute of Economics and Statistics, Moscow, and a Diploma in Russian Language and Preliminary Studies from the Kiev State University, Kiev.

Meanwhile, shareholders of the bank at the 25th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos commended the performance of the bank in 2014 despite the challenging environment. The shareholders also approved the N1.75 dividend per share recommended for the year ended December 31, 2014.

Speaking on the performance in the period under review, the outgoing bank chairman, Imomoh, stated that profit before tax increased from N107.09 billion in 2013 to N116.39 billion in 2014, while total assets stood at N2.36 trillion, representing a 12 per cent increase over the N2.1 trillion recorded in the previous year.

He explained that GTBank’s customers’ deposits, which could be viewed as a direct index of public confidence, grew by 13.3 per cent from N1.43 trillion in 2013 to N1.62trillion in 2014.

Speaking on value creation for shareholders, the managing director/CEO of GTBank, Mr Segun Agbaje, explained, “We recorded earnings per share of N3.47, pre-tax return on average equity (ROAE) of 32.94 per cent, and return on average asset (ROAA) of 5.22 per cent respectively.

He added that loans and advances grew by 27.12 per cent to N1.28 trillion from N1.01 trillion in the previous year.