Ecobank

Stanbic Bank is anticipating a surge in defaults through the course of the year prompting the lender to increase insurance cover for bad debts at a time its non-performing loans are on a decline. The Pan African lender set aside Kes2 billion from its profits as loan loss provisioning up from Kes998 million at a time its gross NPLs declined from Kes24 billion to Kes23.7 billion. As the regulator increases interest rates to counter inflation and dollar outflows, banks are anticipating borrowers will struggle to meet their repayments even as businesses sales tumble amid high cost of goods and a raft of new taxes. Already…