Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) yesterday announced a 16% jump in their profit to Ksh19.6 billion. This growth was driven by diversified business lines, operational efficiencies, non-funded income and higher contributions from subsidiaries. The after tax income rose up from Kshs.16.8 billion in 2014 with KCB’s international business rising up to 12.8% up from 8.3% the previous year.
According to the KCB Group Chairman Ngeny Biwott, the improved earnings were as a result of sustained business resilience despite a relatively tough macro-eceonmic environment across the East African region. He continued to say, “Overall, the business navigated through difficult times especially in Kenya during the second half of the year as well as Burundi and South Sudan. Our multiple market presence helped balance off the pressures and push up the Group’s earnings, the robust business model we have adopted for the International Business is gaining momentum and underpins our regional expansion strategy. We will invest more on initiatives that support deepening financial inclusion across East Africa region and beyond to guarantee a more sustainable business into the future.”
Also speaking at the event, KCB Group CEO Joshua Oigara had this to say, “We have continually made deliberate investments and focus on building a business around diversification, prudent cost management, a robust IT system while remaining synonymous with excellence in customer experience at all service points across the Group.” “Going into the future, we believe that the pace and trajectory of our growth as a business will largely be determined by our efforts in improving operational efficiencies and deepening digital payments while exploiting our network spread to enhance service excellence,” said Mr Oigara.
Key performance highlights include;
- Total Assets: Up 14% from KShs 490.34bn to KShs558bn
- Net Loans and Advances: Up 22% from KShs 284bn to KSh346bn
- Customer deposits: Up 12% from KShs 377.27bn to KSh424.4bn
- Shareholder Funds: Up 7% from KShs 75.63bn to KSh81bn
- Long term debt funding: Up 58% from 12.73bn to KSh20bn
- Profit After Tax: Up 16% from KShs 16.8B to KSh19.6B
- Net Interest Income: Up 9% from KShs 35.95bn to KSh39.2bn
- Fees and commissions: Up 11% from KShs 12.74bn to KShs14.16bn
The bank has also been able to develop expertise in micro lending via a strategic relationship with Safaricom. With latest bank statistics indicate that the bank has so far disbursed over Kshs 7 billion in loans to over 5 million KCB-Mpesa customers on their mobile phones. This saw the Group surpass the 10 million customer mark which was a major milestone for the bank as it set up a Representative office in Ethiopia in a bid to deepen the regional presence.
KCB through its seven operations—Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Ethiopia (representative office) —operates as a diversified financial services provider, and is active across the East African region, targeting both retail and wholesale customer segments. The Bank has been positioning itself as a continental lender, seeking to take up bigger infrastructure projects in Africa, with a plan to be present in at least 10 markets by 2020. KCB is eying entry into Somalia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo among other countries