Co-op Bank six-month profit up 55 percent to Sh11.5 billion as SME loan plan pays off
Co-op Bank net profit in the half year to June grew 55.4 percent to KEs11.5 billion from Kes7.4 billion in a similar period last year on the back of thriving customer lending and payment charges.
Interest income increased 11.8 percent from Kes18.8 billion to Kes21.1 billion to account for Kes 2.3 billion out of the Kes4.1 billion variation in the bank’s semi-annual profits between the current year and 2021.
Co-op’s loan book expanded to Kes330 billion as the lender veered away from lending to the government to focus more on private sector loans, contra to the strategy of tier 1 competitor, KCB Group, which has heavily wagered on government securities to enhance funded income.
For comparison, Co-op Bank’s investment in government bonds remained virtually unchanged at Kes183.2 billion for H1 2022 relative to Kes182 billion during a similar period in 2021. By contrast, KCB’s investment in treasuries for the current half year hit Kes246.2 billion, a 26.2% rally compared with H1 2021.
Co-op Bank Group CEO Gideon Muriuki lauded the lender’s unwavering commitment to supporting the growth of small businesses by delivering affordable credit facilities and vital training.
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“Over 162,000 customers have taken up the MSME packages that we rolled out in 2018, and 26,943 have been trained on business management skills,” he said.
The CEO reported that over this year, Co-op Bank has disbursed Kes12.6 billion to small businesses through the mobile e-credit solution comprising up to 16 percent of the bank’s loan portfolio.
Kingdom Bank, Co-op Bank’s subsidiary attuned to SMEs, also saw a remarkable 48 percent growth in the second quarter posting a pretax profit of Kes405.9 million.
Co-op Bank’s non-interest income soared 29 percent to close at Kes13.3 billion while assets grew from Kes573 billion to Kes603.9 billion. In the period, customer deposits amounted to Kes423 billion.
