Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC – History, Leadership, Awards and More
Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC, commonly referred to as GTCO PLC, is a multinational financial services enterprise based in Victoria Island, in Lagos, which provides investment and retail banking, asset management, pension management, as well as payments services. GTCO Plc was formed in 2021 July as a result of Guaranty Trust Bank PLC’s organizational reform to a Holding Company.
| Type | Private ICB Banking Group’s Subsidiary |
| Founded | 25 years ago, 1925 |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Headquarters | 2nd Floor of VIjana Towers, West Upanga, Fire Station Road, Dar es Salaam |
| Products | Checking, Loans, Investments, Savings, Debit Cards |
| Key people | Chairperson – Josephine Sevaretnam
Managing Director – Villy Vellayappan |
| Parent | ICB Banking Group |
| Total Asset | 79,546 billion TZS (USD 34.5 million) |
| Website | ICB Bank |
The reorganization of Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC implies that it will start providing more services other than banking services, with the group’s major priority being a payments firm. GTCO Plc could not conduct non-lending business under its former structure since the rule instituted in 2010 by the Nigerian Central Bank (CBN) mandated banks to stop running non-banking affiliates. They had to either exit non-core loan services or reorganize themselves as a holding firm.
Payments, Asset management, pension management, and the current banking activities are some of the new operations. Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, GTCO’s Nigerian banking subsidiary, is the country’s most valuable bank in terms of market value, its most recent valuation was 840.26 billion Naira.
Guaranty Trust Holding Public limited company was founded in by about thirty-five Nigerians aged between thirty and forty in 1988 under the name Guaranty Trust Banks, led primarily by Fola Adeola together with Tayo Aderinokun, other founding members include Femi Akingbe, Gbolade Osibodu, Akin Opeodu, Femi Pedro, among others.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC Background
Guaranty Trust Bank Public limited company was founded in 1990 as an LLC (limited liability company) licensed by CBN to offer Nigerians commercial as well as other bank-related services. In 1991, the bank commenced its commercial bank operations. On 11 February 1991, it opened its initial headquarters at the Adeyemo Alakija Plaza at Victoria Island in Lagos. The bank established 2 branches in Lagos (Broad Street and Ikeja) in 1992, its maiden upcountry branch at Kano and another branch at Port-Harcourt in 1993.
GTCO transformed into a publicly listed firm in 1996 September and obtained the Merit Award of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. In February 2002, the bank got a global banking license, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) classified it as a settlement bank in 2003. It established subsidiaries in Gambia and Sierra Leone that same year.
In 2004, GTBank received nearly 11 billion Naira from Nigerian investors in its 2nd share sale to expand operations.
GTBank plc became the 1st Subsaharan bank and the 1st joint-stock corporation from Nigeria that got listed on Deutsche Börse as well as the London Stock Exchange on July 26, 2007. The IPO raised 750,000,000 dollars in capital. They successfully placed the first private Eurobond offering on foreign capital markets the same year.
The GTBank 500,000,000-dollar Eurobond was the first benchmark Eurobond issued by a corporation from Nigeria and GTBank’s second Eurobond program in the past five years.
GTBank plc’s long-term obligations are rated BB- by the Standard & Poor’s and AA- by the Fitch Grades, the top most rated Nigerian bank.
They launched online banking and SMS banking, as well as a MasterCard denominated in Naira, the World Signia card and the Platinum, and mobile branches with GTBank-on-wheels.
The Financial Services Authority granted GTBank a UK banking license on March 12, 2008.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC is a partner in Eko Atlantic City, a recently constructed island (measuring 820 ha.) in the Atlantic Ocean near Lagos’s Victoria Island. It will house the future Financial District. The construction of the Atlantic City began in 2009 and is slated to be completed in 2016.
The Nigerian Postal Service released a set of postage stamps for the GTBank Anniversary to mark the 20th anniversary of the bank. This was the 1st time a corporate entity in Nigeria had been honored in this manner.
In terms of market capitalization, the bank became Nigeria’s largest in 2011.
For a cash settlement of UD 100 million, the bank bought a 70% stake in the Fina Bank Group in 2013. Soon after, Fina Bank offices and its subsidiaries were renamed GT Bank.
In 2013, the GTB issued a 400,000,000 USD Eurobond with a 6 percent coupon rate, the lowest attained by any Nigerian corporation in the global capital market. This Eurobond was marketed to investors from Africa, America, Europe, and Asia, as part of the 2,000,000 USD Global Medium Term Note Programme, registered in the USA under Regulation and under Rule 144A in Britain.
The bank employs over 10,000 people.
GT Bank revealed a change in corporate structure in 2021 May, transitioning to a holding company and subsequently spinning out its banking and other activities into subsidiaries. The planned modification was confirmed by the company’s shareholders on 4 December 2020, following a court-ordered shareholders meeting.
Guaranty Trust Holding PLC Controversy
For a long period, GTB and Innoson have been locked in legal disputes regarding a financial contract. On March 29, 2019, Supreme Court directed GT Bank to pay 8.8 billion Naira to Innoson Motors in interest accrued. q
In an exclusive revelation, Peoples Gazette revealed how GTCO, via its company Investment One, gave N200 million to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s campaign account, in contravention of federal campaign finance rules. The money was paid in three installments of N50 million, N100 million, and N50 million. The election statute allows for a maximum donation of 1 million Naira per presidential contender.
Leadership
- Chairman – Hezekiah Oyinloa
- Group CEO – Segun Agbaje
- Members of the Board of Directors – Adebanji Adeniyi, Helen Lee Bouygues, Suleiman Barau Catherine Echeozo.
Subsidiaries and branches Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc currently has eleven banking subsidiaries and expects to create payments, pension management, and asset management in the future.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC has subsidiaries in the countries listed below:
- GTB Tanzania – Dar es Salaam
- GTB UK – London
- GTB Sierra Leone – Freetown
- GTB Liberia – Monrovia
- GTB Ghana – Accra
- GTB Gambia – Banjul
- GTB Cote d’Ivore – Abidjan
- GTB Uganda – Kampala
- GTB Rwanda – Kigali
- GTB Kenya – Nairobi
- GTB Nigeria – Lagos
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
GTB has an extended history of organizing CSR projects, and it is frequently recognized for its CSR initiatives.
Its yearly Autism Conference, which has been organized for the past eleven years, aims to decrease the autism-associated stigma. For persons living with autism, this event also offers free behavioral and speech consultations with medical professionals.
In sports and education, GTB also organizes the Master’s Cup, one of the most prominent grassroots football competitions in the country. In 2021, GTBank commemorated Children‘s Day by bringing together young children and Mr. Mabel Segun, a prominent Nigerian poet and dramatist.
Other CSR activities by the bank include boosting healthcare access and hosting the GTBank Drink and Food Festival and GTB Fashion Week, two of Nigeria’s most prominent pop culture events.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC Honours and Recognition
GTBank was named Africa’s best bank in Africa at the yearly Euromoney Awards for Excellence in London in July 2019. That same year, it was named Nigeria’s best bank for the 9th time.
GTB received the Euromoney Excellence in Leadership Africa Award in 2020, as well as being voted the Best Nigerian Bank by Euromoney in 2020 and the Best Bank in Africa by the same magazine in 2021.
Additionally, GTB was also voted the Best Digital Nigerian Bank by Agusto & Co, a credit rating and research organization. In 2020, the bank was named the most admired finance brand in Africa and Nigeria.
The World Finance Banking Awards honored GTBank as the Best Banking Group and Retail Bank and Most Innovative Bank in 2021 in Nigeria. GTB was named the Best Digital Bank by World Business Outlook, as well as the Best Mobile Banking app.
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