GTBank Goes To Fintech Battle With Habari
GTBank opens the big playbook as it looks for ways to hit better valuation and take the battle to the emergent fintechs in Nigeria. When the bank reported PBT of N231 billion naira for 2019, I did note that the only underperformance was the stock. The CEO, Segun Agbaje, got that memo and is out to redesign the ordinance. Welcome Habari banking, welcome Beta Health. In this piece, Samuel chronicles the evolution of the king of the sector.
‘Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) is planning to restructure as a holding company to enable it to take on fintech. The bank’s CEO Jimi Agbaje made the disclosure during the earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2019. [...]
“When you take GTBank, which has one the best valuations in the banking industry, it is valued at a one-time book. Then you come to the payment space where fintechs and payment companies are being valued at 30x earnings. What is there not to like about this space?” Agbaje said at February’s Social Media Week in Lagos. [...]
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Agbaje said the projection of Frost & Sullivan means that 30% of banking income is at risk, and the time to act to avoid the pitfalls is now. GTB is not considering partnership with already existing fintechs, but it is building its own app called Habari.” S.N.