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Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Stanbic Bank has registered an increase in net profit by almost 40% to Shs134bn in the first six months ending June.30, according to its financial results released on Aug.05.
This performance was supported by net interest income that went up to Shs215bn from Shs169bn. In addition, total operating income grew from Shs321bn to Shs398bn.
This performance has pushed up earnings per share for shareholders from Shs3.83 to Shs5.24 in the period under review.
Meanwhile, total assets – another indicator determining a well functioning business, grew by 18% from Shs5.1trillion to Shs6.0trillion.
However, liabilities grew from Shs4.2trillion to Shs5trillion. Other operating expenses increased somewhat from Shs94bn to Shs98bn in the same period.
Customer deposits grew by about 10% to exceed Shs4.1trillion up, from Shs3.75trillion in June 2018.The bank extended credit worth Shs400bn in the period January – June – which grew its loan portfolio by 27% to Shs2.7tn.
“We have had a remarkable performance over the past six months underpinned by our customer centric approach and the strength of our diversified businesses,” Mweheire said.
He said the growth in the first six months had also been supported by enhanced economic activity as credit growth across all customer segments improved.
“We remain a key enabler in major sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction and trade sectors especially supporting the SME sector,” he said.
Mweheire said the growth in assets puts them in a much stronger position to support larger development projects and better facilitate economic growth in the country.
The strong asset growth was accentuated by strong customer deposit growth with excess liquidity being appropriately deployed across the different asset classes, mainly customer loans, government securities and interbank lending.
In terms of agent banking, the bank has increased its number of active agents to 1, 000 countrywide.
Mweheire said the new banking segment has increased their customer touch points and provided choice to customers in executing their day to day financial transactions.
The new channel now represents 20% of all the bank’s transactions.
Through agents, customers can access a wide range of services including cash deposits and withdrawals, bill payments, school fees collections, fund transfers.
“It gives us an opportunity to de-clutter the branches and offer a better customer experience for more high value and high touch transactions,” Mweheire said.
