{"id":355647,"date":"2026-05-27T03:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T02:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/?p=355647"},"modified":"2026-05-26T20:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:35:00","slug":"wema-bank-eyes-acquisitions-amid-tier-1-banking-category-positioning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/?p=355647","title":{"rendered":"Wema Bank Eyes Acquisitions Amid\u00a0Tier 1 Banking Category Positioning"},"content":{"rendered":"
Managing Director, Wema Bank Plc<\/a>, Moruf Oseni, has said the bank\u2019s ambition is to break into Nigeria\u2019s tier-one banking category \u201cin the not-too-distant future.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n

The Wema Bank boss\u00a0 told shareholders at it\u2019s virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) that his management team and staff were working hard to \u201cdeliberately and intentionally position\u201d Wema Bank among Nigeria\u2019s top-tier banks, with profitability tripling over three years.<\/p>\n

He said the bank would leverage on its rising profitability trajectory and the fresh capital recently raised as the foundation for an accelerated growth push.<\/p>\n

Oseni said the bank\u2019s profit surged from N42 billion to N102.51 billion and further to N221.9 billion in the 2025 financial year, representing a near fivefold increase over the three-year period.<\/p>\n

While presenting the numbers to the shareholders, Oseni\u00a0 showed the profit trajectory as evidence of deliberate institutional building:<\/p>\n

He said : \u201cIf you observe that trend, it\u2019s on an increase, and it\u2019s a testament to all the work we have\u00a0 done since we took over, and even in the years when we were building the blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the dividends, the MD struck a cautious but reassuring tone, noting that while the bank remains committed to consistent dividend payments, a sharp turnaround from years of no dividend distribution,\u00a0 management was deliberately conserving capital for future opportunities:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re keeping our gunpowder dry\u2026 we felt that at this point in time the dividend paid was appropriate, taking into cognisance that there may be opportunities in the future that we will want to take advantage of.<\/p>\n

“The reference to future ‘opportunities’ and the need for ‘enough firepower’ strongly suggests the bank is eyeing acquisitions or strategic transactions, though no specifics were disclosed. The details would be revealed in the fullness of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bank boss gave the credit for the bank\u2019s performance to his subordinates and staff, describing them as the \u201cKnights of Wema Bank\u201d who \u201ctoil 24-7\u201d to deliver results.<\/p>\n

He also acknowledged shareholders, board members, and customers as central to the bank\u2019s recovery story.<\/p>\n

He outlined a clear capital allocation strategy for the fresh funds raised, covering three priority areas, including Loan growth: The raised capital will be channelled into creating quality risk assets, such as\u00a0 digital expansion: Investment in what he described as \u201cplatforms of engagement\u201d \u2014 customer-facing digital infrastructure<\/p>\n

He said Cybersecurity, “Spending on platforms of defence to protect the bank and customer deposits amid rising cybercrime threats”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Managing Director, Wema Bank Plc, Moruf Oseni, has said the bank\u2019s ambition is to break into Nigeria\u2019s tier-one banking category \u201cin the not-too-distant future.\u201d The Wema Bank boss\u00a0 told shareholders at it\u2019s virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) that his management team and staff were working hard to \u201cdeliberately and intentionally position\u201d Wema Bank among Nigeria\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67315,"featured_media":355693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/67315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=355647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355705,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355647\/revisions\/355705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/355693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=355647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=355647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=355647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}