HARARE – STANBIC Bank Zimbabwe has overcome vulnerabilities in the macroeconomic environment to posts an impressive set of results for the half year ended June 30, 2018 headlined by a profit after tax of $16.4 million.
This represents an increase of 28 percent compared to the same period last year when profit after tax stood at $12.8 million.
In a statement accompanying the results, Chief executive Joshua Tabambgwa said the Bank performed well despite ‘increasing turburlence in the operating environment’ characterised by foreign currency and cash shortages.
Net interest income registered a 28 percent growth to close the period at $32.6 million from $25.5 million recorded in the same period last year.
“This commendable growth was largely underpinned by the acquisition of additional short term investments together with new lending assets which were written in the period,” he said.
In a common scenario across the banking sector, Stanbic’s fee and commission income grew by 20 percent to $18.1 million driven by a surge in transaction volumes processed through digital platforms as a result of the prevailing cash shortages.
“The remarkable growth in our custodial income on the back of improved value assets under custody further strengthened the fee and commission income line,” said Mr Tabambgwa.
Loans to customers were up 16 percent to $384 million from $330 million as at December 31, 2017 reinforced mainly by the new lending assets which were secured combined with an increase in facility utilisation by some customers.
On the other hand, total operating expenses increased by 16 percent to $34.6 million from the comparative period largely because of the execution of business expansion projects during the period under review as the Bank continued to enhance its digitisation and innovation pace in a highly evolving environment.
Tabambgwa said the Bank will continue to drive digital system expansion to offer convenience to its customers.
“Enhancements of functionality on our digital platforms for the convenience and ease of transacting is ongoing, and the uptake continues to significantly improve.
“We are grateful to our customers for embracing the Stanbic App, Online Banking, Enterprise Online and Mobile Banking platforms,” he said.
The Bank’s core capital grew by 16 percent to $138.4 million during the period from $119.5 million recorded in the comparative period last year. This surpasses the regulatory minimum of $25 million.
“The Bank has remained compliant with the required minimum capital threshold after implementation of IFRS 9 on 1 January 2018.
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