Stanbic Bank has transcended the macroeconomic challenges bedeviling the country to post an inflation adjusted profit after tax of ZWL 1.2 billion for the half year to June 2021.
The Standard Bank Group subsidiary has sustained its impressive performance which has defied the prevailing economic conditions having rebounded from a loss position in the half year in 2019 to a profit position in 2020 in the comparable period.
One year down the line, the top-ranking financial services provider has consolidated that steady performance although the ZWL 1.2 billion was slightly below the ZWL1.3 billion inflation adjusted profit achieved in the prior comparable period last year.
In a statement accompanying the results, Stanbic’s Chairman, Gregory Sebborn, attributed the slight drop in profit to depressed performance of the trading revenue line owing to subdued trading activity during the interim period.
Sebborn said the foreign currency shortages in the market combined with periods of lockdown also contributed to the marginal reduction in profit for the Standard Bank Group subsidiary.
"In addition, operating expenses increased in comparison to the prior year driven by expenditure of ZWL 430 million in the staff optimization exercise," said Sebborn.
Stanbic Bank ended the six months period to June 2021 with a qualifying core capital of ZWL5.7 billion, outpacing the local currency equivalent of the required US$30 million regulatory minimum core capital to be achieved by Tier 1 banks by 31 December 2021.
Stanbic’s stellar performance comes at a time when the economy is still stifled by a number of challenges, chief among them being the resurgence in COVID 19 cases, high inflation, foreign currency shortages, low disposable incomes and unstable energy supply.
"The policy environment and fiscal space are likely to remain constrained to contain these challenges in the short to medium term outlook," said Sebborn.
Giving a business performance overview for the six months to June 2021, Stanbic Chief Executive (CE), Solomon Nyanhongo, said the institution recorded a 218% growth in its net interest income, closing the period at ZWL 2.6 billion and surpassing the income of ZWL 803 million for the prior period..
"The uplift in interest income was largely buttressed by the strong growth in interest earning assets during the period as new lending assets were written. Fee and commission income for the period had grown by 167% from ZWL 1 billion in 2020 to ZWL 2.7 billion, largely spurred by the improved volumes of transactions which were being processed on our service channels […]
