Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc expects regulators to approve the fintech subsidiary it plans to establish soon, the financial services group said on Tuesday.
The fintech firm, to be known as Stanbic IBTC Financial Services Limited, will emerge at a difficult time for Stanbic IBTC Holdings, which reported a post-tax profit of N39.9 billion for the nine months to September, compared to N66.2 billion a year earlier.
During the same time period, revenue fell by one-fifth.
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Lenders in Nigeria are scrambling for new revenue streams to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on earnings, particularly the slowed growth in loans and advances – banks’ main source of revenue – in the first half of 2021 as they became wary of the virus.
“Subject to all required regulatory approvals, including licensing by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the new subsidiary will function primarily as a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP),” the holding company said in a note to the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings shut down its Bureau De Change operations in January, just seven weeks after launching a life insurance business, citing a policy change that allowed customers to purchase forex at branches of its commercial banking arm.
Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Standard Bank Group Limited, Africa’s largest bank by assets, owns the majority of the group.
