GTBank Nets Le 90.1 Billion Profit

Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank) one of the leading financial institutions in Sierra Leone has announced a profit of Le 90.1 before Tax, Le 63.0 Billion after tax and a gross earnings of Le 184.7 Billion in 2018.

This was disclosed on Monday 24th June this year by the Chairman Board of Directors of GTBank Emerson George Taylor-Lewis at the 18th Annual General Meeting of the Bank at Bintumani Hotel in Freetown.
He said in the past years, GTBank continued to maintain its position as one of the most profitable Commercial Banks in Sierra Leone. “And in this regard, I am proud to inform you that our Bank has distinguished itself as the most profitable Bank in Sierra Leone by recording an impressive Profit Before Tax (PBT) of 90.18 billion for the financial year ended December 31,2018, an increase of 36% (Le 24.10 billion) over our 2017 PBT of Le 66.09 billion.
According to the Chairman Board of Directors, even though Sierra Leone is endowed with precious stones such as diamonds and gold, the international movement in the prices of these commodities have a direct impact on the economy of the country.
In 2018 he said the country witnesses a mixed basket in terms of commodity price movement. The fall in price of diamonds, gold and bauxite Taylor-Lewis said had a negative effect on the economy due to the fact that iron ore constitutes the bulk of the country's mineral export and that the shutdown of largest iron ore mining company in the country further drop in the volume of foreign exchange inflows into the country resulting in a significant depreciation of the local currency over the period.

He said despite the challenges in the operating environment in 2018, the bank has continued to witness significant strides in growing its market share in the financial sector, through its customer-centric approach to business and they have recorded significant success.
Emerson Taylor-Lewis furthered that as it is projected for 2019 that the export of iron ore will resume which will improve the FX supply within the financial sector and engender growth in the GDP of the country. Iron ore prices have also shown strong signs of recovery and it projected that the GDP will reach 5.l% in 2019.
The bank he said will open its USSD product during the course of next year as a means of customers being able to open accounts on their phones and carrying basic banking transactions on their phones.
He concluded that the bank will continue to invest in the integrity and functionality of its technology infrastructure, to this end he commissioned the Disaster Recovery Site.
GTBank Managing Director Ade Adebiyi informed shareholders that the bank is a profit driven organisation but they are also sensitive to the need of their operating environment and to this end have a strong corporate social responsibility culture that is mainly focused on the promotion of educational sector in Sierra Leone.
He promised to continue to remain a responsible corporate citizen and settle all government related obligations, including all forms of taxes, promptly.
Clifford Marcus-Robert Senior Manager of Baker Tiller read the audited report.
Story by Ibrahim Joenal Sesay