Standard Bank happy with interim resultsStandard Bank Namibia yesterday reported strong results to round off the second year of its three-year strategy.
The Group managed to build on its already positive performance from 2015, growing profits after tax by 8.2% in the first half of 2016, and loans and advances to customers by 6%.
In a statement issued yesterday, the bank said it grew its total income by 9.8%, while interest income grew by 17.2%.
“We see continual progress in the quality of our loan book as evidenced by the decline in the credit loss ratio to 0.6% from 0.7%,” Standard Bank chief financial officer Bryan Mandy said.
Staff expenses increased by 15.8% and other operating expenses increased by 8.9%, while operating expenses showed a 12.5% rise over the prior period.
“Significant investments have been made into staff to ensure the necessary talent is attracted and retained to meet our strategic goals,” Mandy said.
“Other operating expenses were affected by our increasing investments into innovation. At the same time, they were also negatively affected by the worsening exchange rate, leading to substantial increases on imported goods and services,” he said.
Commenting on the results, Standard Bank Namibia chief executive Vetumbuavi Mungunda said the local banking industry was growing rapidly, and that the bank was focused on anticipating these changes to come up with appropriate and effective responses.
“The Standard Bank of today is substantially better equipped to innovate and to consider and embrace new and better ways of serving our customers,” Mungunda said.
“This is rooted in greater collaboration, accountability and effectiveness that can counter the complexity that so easily hamper large organisations.”
While the presentation steered clear of mentioning actual figures, it did reveal that the lender had issued N$700 million worth of bonds and non-convertible debentures (NCDs) over the period, to ensure it would meet its long-term funding needs.
It also divulged that its total liquidity in excess of specific prudential requirements amounted to N$2 billion at the first quarter of this year.
That compares to an amount of N$2.2 billion held over the corresponding period of 2015, and remains adequate to meet all its internal stress testing, prudential and regulatory requirements.
DENVER ISAACS