Nigeria's First Bank Earns N15B In Q1

San Francisco, April 21 (THEWILL) - Nigeria's oldest bank, First Bank said it recorded a pretax profit of N15.4 billion naira ($103 million) for the first quarter (Jan-March) of the year as against a loss of $9.8 billion naira for the same period last year ago.

Though loans increased by 16 percent to N1.26 trillion naira, the bank said business environment was tough making credit expansion difficult and slow.

It announced that its gross earnings dropped 10.6 percent to N62.4 billion naira, compared to the same period last year.

"We are on track to lower our cost of funding and gradually grow our risk assets as we continue to reposition the group for a strong growth trajectory in the coming periods," Group Managing Director Stephen Olabisi Onasanya said in a statement announcing First Bank’s Q1 performance.