Guaranty Trust Bank plc is a leading Nigerian bank with a corporate banking bias and strong service culture that has led to consistent year on year growth in the bank’s clientele base and financial indices.
From the early 1990s the bank has tirelessly set the pace for other Nigerian financial institutions in terms of service quality, product functionality and excellent customer service. The bank has also created exceptional value for its shareholders through consistent dividend payouts and bonus issues, remaining one of the few institutions in Nigeria that pays dividends twice a year and presents its financials using both Nigerian GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards).
Guaranty Trust Bank plc has a double A minus risk rating from Fitch Rating, a triple A rating (AAA) from Agusto & Co and a double B minus rating from Standard and Poors. The bank also has an ISO 9001:2000 certification from the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and is the only Nigerian bank to have been the subject of business and brand reviews by Harvard and Cranfield Business Schools.
Guaranty Trust Bank plc operates from 154 business offices in Nigeria with several bank and non-bank subsidiaries spread across Anglophone West Africa and the UK. Through these, the bank is able to meet the growing needs of its customer in areas of banking, insurance, mortgage, asset management and other sectors outside the realm of traditional banking.
Brand values and financials
At Guaranty Trust Bank, the customer is king. A high premium is placed on understanding the customer’s business and providing him with services that meet and exceed his expectations every single time. The bank’s operations are guided by a set of founding principles called the 8 Orange rules; simplicity, professionalism, service, friendliness, excellence, trustworthiness, social responsibility and innovation.
By adhering closely to these values and the ensuing customer confidence the bank enjoys, these have become the source of its financial and other successes over the years. The bank’s December 2008 financial show earnings of over N100 billion, shareholders funds of N182 billion and assets plus continents of over N1.3 trillion.
History
Guaranty Trust Bank plc was incorporated as a limited liability company licensed to provide commercial and other banking services to the Nigerian public in 1990. The bank commenced operations in February 1991, and has since then grown to become one of the most respected and service focused banks in Nigeria.
Five years later, in September 1996, Guaranty Trust Bank plc became a publicly quoted company and won the Nigerian Stock Exchange Presidential Merit award that same year and subsequently in the years 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. In February 2002, the bank was granted a universal banking license and later appointed a settlement bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2003.
Guaranty Trust Bank undertook its second share offering in 2004 and successfully raised over N11bn from Nigerian investors to expand its operations and favourably compete with other global financial institutions. This development ensured the bank was satisfactorily poised to meet the N25bn minimum capital base for banks introduced by the
Central Bank of Nigeria in 2005, as part of the consolidation exercise by the regulating body to sanitise and strengthen Nigerian banks.
Post-consolidation, Guaranty Trust Bank made a strategic decision to actively pursue retail banking. A major rebranding exercise followed in June 2005, which saw the bank emerge with cutting edge service offerings, aggressive expansion strategies advertising policies and its now trademark vibrant orange.
In 2007, the bank entered the African business landscape history books as the first Nigerian financial Institution to undertake a $350 million regulation S Eurobond issue and a $750 million Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) Offer. The listing of the GDRs on the LSE in July that year made the bank the first Nigerian Company and African Bank to attain such a landmark achievement.
Over the years, the bank has been a recipient of numerous accolades and commendations for exceptional service delivery, innovation, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and management quality. A few of these are: the 2007 Most Respected Company in Nigeria in a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and BusinessDay, multiple honours in the Vanguard Newspaper Banking Awards as winner in three categories: 2007 Most Customer-Friendly Bank, 2007 Bank of The Year and 2007 Best Bank in Corporate Governance. More recently, the Bank clinched the 2009 Most Customer-Focused Bank: Retail Award and a 2008 Best CSR Rating from KPMG and SIAO respectively. The bank also won the Best ICT Support Bank of the Year award at the 2009 National ICT Merit Awards.
Products
Guaranty Trust Bank plc provides a full range of commercial, investment and retail banking products/services to its discerning corporate, commercial and retail customers.
Widely recognised as a pace setter and industry leader, the bank is also accredited with such innovations as the introduction of online banking in 1990, making it possible for customers to access their accounts and conduct transactions from any branch in the bank’s network. In 2006, the bank launched GT Connect, a fully interactive service contact centre that allows customers conduct 90 percent of banking transactions via phone from anywhere in the world.
The bank’s other innovative products and solutions include an E-branch, where customers can perform transactions electronically with no human interface; Drive Through banking, a service which enables customers to withdraw funds and make enquires from the comfort of their cars as well as GTBank on wheels, a fully mobile banking branch.
The bank’s internet banking platform is a notch above its contemporaries in that it is enabled to support inter-bank transfers. The bank also offers debit and credit card services, and keeps its customers abreast of transactions on their accounts through GeNS, its SMS and electronic transaction notification system.
Social responsibility
For Guaranty Trust Bank, corporate social responsibility as not just a catch-phrase, but a continuing commitment to the millions resident in its diverse operating environments.
Accordingly, the bank is driven by the developmental challenges of its host communities to remain a socially responsible company that ensures its activities meet and exceed the social, environmental and economic expectations of its stakeholders.
A significant part of the bank’s annual earnings are used to support structures, events and individuals across diverse areas of child healthcare and education, entertainment, environmental beautification, human capital development and the arts.
Guaranty Trust Bank’s continued support for such laudable initiatives over the years have resulted in several accolades and recognitions; most recent was the 2008 Best CSR Rating by SIAO, a foremost indigenous rating firm.
Brand affiliations
Today, backed by its growing regional spread and strong domestic franchise, GTBank’s business ties in various facets of the global economy extends across all continents to include over 15 overseas correspondent banks and finance institutions such as HSBC, Citibank, Bank of China, JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, Afrexim Bank, Bank of China and BNP Paribas.
The bank has also partnered with key local and international brands on socio-economic developmental projects over the years. Some of these partners have been Swiss Red Cross, The Prada Foundation, The Commonwealth Business Council and Nigeria’s House of Representatives
For Guaranty Trust Bank plc, everyday presents the opportunity to make history. In achieving this, the bank is constantly evolving, whilst consolidating its pride of place as a proudly African, truly international bank. π
For further information tel: +234 1448 0000; email: pascal.or@gtbank.com; www.gtbank.com
