KCB Group CEO Joshua Oigara converses with Group Chairman Andrew Kairu during the bank’s release of its 2019 half year earnings on August 15. PHOTO | CITIZEN DIGITAL The marginal growth which however represents a slow-down in half year net growth year over year from an 18 percent rise in earnings in 2018 is on the back of increased lending and digitization.
The quest for efficiency through digitization and the deployment of third party infrastructure has supported the Group’s return from investing, defined in the marginal dip in the bank’s cost to income ratio to 45.7 percent.
KCB remains keen on regional expansion into the greater Eastern Africa region, a move that sits in-line with bank’s target of becoming the first Ksh.1 trillion asset-valued lender in the region.
KCB Group has announced a five percent growth in earnings for the first six months of the year to Ksh.12.7 billion.
The marginal growth, which however represents a slow-down in half-year net growth year-over-year from an 18 percent rise in earnings in 2018, is on the back of increased lending and digitization.
KCB net loans and advances to customers grew 14 percent to Ksh.478.7 billion with the retail and corporate segment scooping up the lion share of the freed up credit.
The bank has however, against the tide of falling yields from government investments, pumped an additional Ksh.22.4 billion to the Treasury to represent a significant 20 percent jump in portfolio’s investment.
“This has effectively been the result of a balance in our investments. We still see suitable yields in mid and long term paper and hence chose to deploy our excess cash in government,” said KCB Group Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara.
The balance in the lending regime to both customers and government has been propped by growing efficiencies through the digitization of banking services to clients.
Agency, mobile and merchant banking has continued their dominance over the traditional brick and mortar channel, with banking halls now holding a mere five percent of KCB’s total transactions.
Mobile lending went up nearly five-fold in the first six months supported by the traction of the recently reinvigorated KCB Mpesa and the subsequent launch of Fuliza in the second half of 2018 as the respective channels push out Ksh. 66.7 billion and Ksh.27.4 billion in total, propping net mobile loans beyond the Ksh.100 billion mark.The quest for efficiency through digitization and the deployment of third party infrastructure has supported the […]
