Guaranty Trust Bank PLC also known as GTBank or simply GTB is a Nigerian multinationalfinancial institution, that offers online/internet banking, retail banking, corporate banking, investment banking and asset management services, with its head office in Victoria Island, Lagos. The bank was formed in 1988 by over 35 young Nigerians in their thirties, spearheaded mostly by Tayo Aderinokun and Fola Adeola, but also included Femi Pedro, Gbolade Osibodu, Femi Akingbe, Akin Opeodu and others.
History
Guaranty Trust Bank PLC was incorporated as a limited liability company licensed to provide commercial and other banking services to the Nigerian public in 1990 and commenced operations in February 1991. In September 1996, Guaranty Trust Bank plc became a publicly quoted company and won the Nigerian Stock Exchange President's Merit award. In February 2002, the Bank was granted a universal banking license and later appointed a settlement bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2003. Guaranty Trust Bank undertook its second share offering in 2004 and raised over N11 billion from Nigerian Investors to expand its operations. On 26 July 2007 GTBank became the very first subsaharan bank and first Nigerian joint stock company to be listed on London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse. The IPO raised US$750,000,000. In the same year, they successfully placed Nigeria's first private Eurobond issue on the international capital markets. The GTBank USD 500,000,000 Eurobond was the first ever Benchmark Eurobond issue by a Nigerian corporate and the second Eurobond programme by GTBank in the last 5 years. The long-term debts of Guaranty Trust Bank plc are rated BB- by Standard & Poor's and AA- by Fitch Ratings, which are the highest ratings for a Nigerian bank. They introduced online banking and SMS banking in Nigeria and a naira denominated MasterCard as well as the Platinum and World Signia cards and with GTB-on-wheels, mobile branches. On 12 March 2008, GTBank was given a banking licence for the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority. GTBank is a partner of Eko Atlantic City, a newly made island in the Atlantic ocean, adjacent to Victoria IslandLagos. It will be the home of the new Financial District. The building of Eko Atlantic City started in 2009 and is expected to be finished in 2016. To commemorate the bank's 20th anniversary, the Nigerian Postal Service issued a set of GTBank Anniversary postage stamps. This was the first time in Nigeria that a corporate organization was honored in such a way. In 2011, the bank became the biggest bank in Nigeria by market capitalisation. In 2013, the bank acquired 70 percent shareholding in the Fina Bank Group for a cash payment of US$100 million. Fina Bank branches and subsidiaries were rebranded GT Bank soon afterwards. In 2013, the Bank issued a US$400,000,000 Euro bond at a coupon rate of 6%; the least obtained by a Nigerian company in the international capital market. The Eurobond was issued under the US$2,000,000 Global Medium Term Note Programme, which is registered under both Regulation in the United State of America and Rule 144A in the United Kingdom and sold to investors across Africa, America, Asia and Europe. The Bank has over 10,000 employees. On 29 March 2019,the Supreme Court asked GT bank to pay Innoson motors the sum of ₦8.7 billion debt
Leadership
Osaretin Demuren is chairman; Segun Agbaje is managing director/CEO. The other board of directors are Adebayo Adeola, Bode Agusto, Ibrahim Hassan, Hezekiah Oyinlola, Imoni Akpofure, Olutola Omotola, Demola Odeyemi, Miriam Olusanya, Haruna Musa and Bolaji Lawal.
Branches and Subsidiaries
GTBank plc has 231 branches, 17 Cash Centres, 18 e-branches, 41 GTExpress locations and more than 1165 ATMs in Nigeria. GTBank has expanded to Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. These countries belong to the "Eco zone". It has also expanded to the United Kingdom. With the acquisition of a 70 per cent stake in Fina Bank GTBank expanded into the East African market as at December 2013. As a consequence, Fina Bank will now be renamed and rebranded as subsidiaries of GTBank. GTBank has subsidiaries in the following countries:
In July 2019, GTBank was recognized as the best bank in Africa at the annual Euromoney Awards for Excellence held in London. In the same year, it was adjudged the best bank in Nigeria for the ninth time.
