FILE PHOTO: Centenary Bank Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Centenary bank has announced a 45% increase in after-tax profits to 155.9 billion shillings making it the second most profitable bank in the country after Stanbic Bank.
In 2018, the Catholic Church-owned institution made 107 billion shillings in net profit.
The financial results for 2019 published on Friday show growth in loans given to customers and the fact more people trusted it with their money in the form of deposits.
According to the financial statement, customer deposits grew by 11% from 2.28 trillion shillings in 2018 to 2.53 trillion shillings in 2019.
The bank says this was due to “the convenience customers enjoy through our Agent banking platform as well as the mobile banking platform which brings the bank closer to its customers.”
To compound its stellar show, the bank expanded its assets by at least 500 billion shillings to 3.6 trillion shillings – although this is just half of what Stanbic Bank, the market leader published last month.
Fabian Kasi, centenary bank’s managing director said the “performance demonstrates a blend of strategy and resources to deliver value for our stakeholders…”
Looking at the company’s income statement, it shows the bank made up to 390 billion shillings in 2019 from 341 billion shillings a year before from the loans it gave out an indicator of its ability to recover much of what it lends.
On the money it lends to the government – through treasury bills and bonds – Centenary managed to make 69 billion shillings on it.
Fees and commission was a bigger earner for the bank where it made money on such things as advisory, custody, hedging.
Other moneymakers in this category are charges like non-sufficient funds fees, overdraft charges, late fees, over-the-limit fees, wire transfer fees, monthly service charges, account research fees.Kasi acknowledged disruption due to coronavirus this year saying “we do have hope that the situation will improve. Our future rests on responding to the needs of our customers, operational efficiency and leveraging on technology and innovations.”Centenary bank’s performance cements a feeling 2019 might turn out one of the best years for the banking industry.All the commercial banks – Stanbic, Dfcu, DTB, and UBA – which have published their results, are showing the strongest performances in recent times.******URN