Kenya’s KCB Group’s pretax profit for the first quarter of this year jumped 53 per cent, assisted by higher interest income, it announced on Wednesday, May 22.
The lender, which also operates in Uganda ,Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Burundi, said pretax profit rose to KSh21.16 billion from KSh13.85 billion in the same period of last year.
Net interest income increased to KSh31.06 billion from KSh22.06 billion.
And gross loans rose 12.2 per cent to KSh1.13 trillion while loan-loss provisions stood at KSh6.3 billion, up from KSh4.12 billion.
“This was as a result of downgrades in Kenya and the impact of translation of the foreign currency denominated book,” KCB Group said in a statement.
Total assets increased to KSh2 trillion from KSh1.63 trillion in the year-ago period.
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In March, KCB agreed to sell its Kenyan unit, National Bank, to Nigeria’s Access Group
“Our growth has been balanced throughout the region with key growth assets being KCB Bank Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and TMB,” said KCB Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Paul Russo.
“We continue to take measures to maintain adequate coverage both from provisions and securities held. We continue to build coverage towards the 70 per cent target. Our customer deposits continue to rise 25.4 per cent year on year. We are currently at KShs 1.5 Trillion.
KCB is well positioned to power the strong projected GDP growth across the region in 2024, driven by agriculture, tourism and services sectors.”
“We continue to leverage our products, policies and programmes through 2Jiajiri and Mifugo Ni Mali to deliver social and economic impact in the markets we operate in.”
By Joseph Mambili
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