NCBA Group has reported 8.5 per cent growth in profit after tax to Sh16.4 billion driven by net interest income which grew 27 per cent to Sh32 billion.
The group reported a net profit of Sh15.1 billion during the same period last year.
Total interest income dropped 12 per cent to Sh50.7 billion as falling interest rates impacted interest earnings from loans which fell 16 per cent to Sh29.7 billion. The bank has cut its base lending rate five times this year to 13.27 per cent per annum.
The banking group delivered a 27 per cent growth in net interest income to Sh32 billion largely by slashing the interest it paid on customer deposits. Customer deposits dropped by 5.3 per cent to Sh488 billion compared to Sh515 billion reported last year.
Interest expense on customer deposits fell by 43 per cent to Sh17.3 billion compared to interest payments of Sh30.2 billion the bank paid on customer deposits during the same period last year.
Non interest income, which includes fees and commissions, fell slightly by 1.9 per cent to Sh21.4 billion driven mainly by a 27 per cent drop in foreign exchange trading earnings to Sh3.7 billion. The banking group earned foreign exchange trading income of ShSh5.1 billion during the same period last year.
The bank supported its customers in Kenya and Rwanda by waiving monthly account maintenance fees to help them navigate the challenging macro-economic environment with ease.
NCBA Group hiked its loan loss provisions, the amount of money a bank sets aside to cover any potential loan losses, by about Sh1 billion to Sh5.1 billion, compared to Sh4.1 billion last year. Non performing loans fell by 6 per cent to Sh37.8 billion.
Regional banking subsidiaries, which includes core banking operations in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda and digital banking businesses in Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, grew their pre-tax profit contribution to the group to Sh2.6 billion from Sh2.4 billion last year.
Non-banking subsidiaries, which includes investment bank, bancassurance, leasing and NCBA Insurance, delivered a combined pre-tax profit growth of 48 per cent to Sh1.2 billion contributing 5.5 per cent of the group’s pre-tax profit.
Commenting on the results, NCBA‘s Group Managing Director, John Gachora noted,
“Our Kenya Bank subsidiary remained the key driver of Group PBT (profit before tax) with 82 per cent contribution, while the regional subsidiaries delivered KES 2.6 billion PBT, a contribution of 12.5 per cent to Group. The non-banking subsidiaries including the Investment Bank, Bancassurance, Leasing and NCBA Insurance delivered a combined PBT growth of 48 per cent to reach KES 1.2 billion, which was a 5.5 per cent contribution to Group PBT.”
In October, Bloomberg reported that Standard Bank through its Kenyan unit, Stanbic Holdings, is in talks to acquire NCBA Group. NCBA has neither confirmed or denied the talks. The report prompted NCBA’s share price to jump significantly hitting an all time high of Sh100 before retreating to between Sh83-85.
