Co-op Bank grows nine-month profit to Ksh.10.9 billion

The Cooperative Bank Group has booked a Ksh.10.9 billion third quarter profit representing a 5.8 percent jump in earnings by the lender to the close of September.

The growth in earnings by the bank is largely attributable to the increased issuance of digital loans which serve to raise income derived from fees and commissions.

As such, the lender’s non-funded income has surged forward by 33 percent to Ksh.14.1 billion with digital loan issuance on MCo-op Cash rising ahead of the bank’s traditional loan book to Ksh.27.6 billion.

Nevertheless, Co-op retained its likeness for the Treasury, a departure from observed exits by peers, to increase its investments in the portfolio by a further 13 percent to Ksh.94.6 billion from Ksh.83.2 billion last year.

Customer deposits meanwhile came in at a greater nine percent in the period to stand at Ksh.322.5 billion.

Co-op’s net interest earnings however slightly tumbled in spite of the prolific growth of both net loans and advances to customers and deposits

Co-op Bank has continued to find leverage from its recent diversification of revenue streams and the deployment of third party infrastructure to trim operational costs.

90 percent of the bank’s customer transactions already sit outside branches while the lender has grown its neighborhood based banking agents to 16,000.

Even so, the lender’s operating expenses have picked up by a notable 11 percent on the back of higher loan loss provisions as gross non-performing loans (NPLs) rose to Ksh.30 billion from Ksh.29 billion

The bank expects to keep by the diversification tune to strengthen its dominance on its core market segment encompassing retail banking and the cooperative movement.

“The group continues to leverage on the benefits of the transformation agenda which has re-tooled and equipped the business with added competitive edge as reflected in the sustained growth in market share across all market segments,” Co-op Group Managing Director Gideon Muriuki said.