Co-operative bank posts Ksh3.6b net profit in first quarter

Co-operative Bank made 3.6 billion shillings in net profit during the first three months of this year driven by non-interest income and interest income from government securities.

The bank increased investment in government securities by 38.6 percent to 103.9 billion shillings.

The cap on interest rates that was introduced in 2016 has seen banks ration credit to risk borrowers.

Most lenders have been increasing participation in government securities on account of low risk by the state.

This was the case with Co-operative Bank which increased investment in government securities by 38.6 percent to 103.9 billion shillings.

A statement by Cooperative Bank CEO Gideon Muriuki said: “Interest income from government securities increased by 39.6 percent from Kshs 2.0 billion to Kshs 2.8 billion.”

The lender has also been diversifying to other revenue streams away from reliance on loans and advances.

During the first three months of this year, Coop Bank made 4.2 billion shillings in total non-interest income, which is a growth of 19.1 percent compared to 3.5 billion shillings the lender made in a similar period last year.

This notwithstanding net loans and advances was at 251.6 billion shillings as at end of March last year.

Through its joint venture partnership in South Sudan, coop bank saw its pretax profit grow 28.7 percent to 41.7 million shillings.

This powered the group’s total net profit to hit 3.6 billion shillings, representing a 4.4 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Muriuki says through the bank’s multi-channel strategy, the lender has successfully moved 88 percent of all customer transactions to alternative delivery channels that include self-service kiosks, mobile banking, ATMs, internet and Co-op Kwa Jirani banking agents.

Going forward, Co-operative Bank plans to focus on growing digital banking, efficient delivery of services and multichannel access to deliver business growth and profitability.