Stanbic Bank quarterly profit falls to Ksh.1.5 billion

Stanbic Bank Kenya has announced a reduced Ksh.1.5 billion profit for the period running January 1 to March 31 ,2020.

The 35 percent slack in earnings from Ksh.2.3 billion over a similar period is largely attributable to falling income during the period as both interest and non-interest funded income heads eased.

The bank’s non-interest funded income fell by 30.3 percent to Ksh.2.3 billion while interest earnings eased by 7.7 percent to Ksh.4.8 billion from Ksh.5.2 billion last year.

The drop in both income heads saw the bank’s operating income shrink by 19.4 percent to Ksh.5.4 billion from Ksh.6.7 billion.

However, the bank marked an increase in both customer deposits and issued loans which rose to Ksh.202.7 billion and Ksh.161.8 billion, respectively.

Stanbic Bank Chief Executive Officer Mudiwa termed the performance as resilient amidst the Covid-19 pandemic led shocks.

“The first quarter has indeed put the economy in a difficult position with most sectors struggling to meet targets,” he said.

During the period, the bank reported the restructuring of Ksh.13.2 billion in loans to individuals and small medium enterprises (SMEs) as part of the banking industry measures to support customers through the pandemic.

Ksh.10.9 billion in restructures were targeted at individuals who further received a one-month repayment holiday while Ksh.2.3 billion were SME loans which earned three-months long repayment holidays.

Stanbic continued to extend support to women led enterprises through its program dubbed DADA, with new credit issues standing at Ksh.727 million in the period.

The bank tabulates its support to Covid-19 containment initiatives at Ksh.137 million through its Stanbic Foundation.

The lender’s resilient performance was however dented by a rise in asset quality deterioration as gross non-performing loans raced to Ksh.21.1 billion from Ksh.16.7 billion.