Tier 1 lender Standard Chartered Bank has posted a net profit of Ksh. 6.2 billion in the first nine months of the year down from Ksh. 6.3 billion recorded in a similar period last year.
The bank has attributed the marginal drop to the decision to maintain its current loan book, which stands at Ksh. 119 billion, in order to avoid the ballooning of non-performing loans (NPLs).
“Loans and advances to customers remained flat at Sh119 billion compared to December 2018 as we continued to focus on higher-quality asset origination to ensure we grow our balance sheet in a sustainable manner,” StanChart’s Chief Executive Kariuki Ngari said during the launch of the results.
StanChart however highlighted the increased performance of its digital platform that handles approximately 80 percent of all consumer transactions at the bank.
“Our digital investments to transform the bank, develop and scale new business models continue apace. This has been positively received by our clients and key client digital adoption measures continue to improve. Close to 90 per cent of our corporate clients are utilising our Straight2Bank platform and over 20 per cent of Kenya Revenue Authority tax receipts are processed through our real-time Integrated Tax Payment solution,” the StanChart CEO explained.
The lender’s interest income however dropped to Ksh. 19.1 billion in the period under review as a result of declining yields and lower investment in government securities. Total interest expense similarly declined by 24 percent to Ksh.4.4 billion while customer deposits increased by 2.4 percent to Ksh. 225 billion.
On the other hand, the bank’s non-interest income remained flat at Ksh. 7 billion while operating expenses increased by 12 per cent with the bank investing in technology, cybersecurity and staff in the period under review.
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