Family Bank Group Tuesday posted Kshs 1.16 billion in 2020 full year net profit, representing a 22.44% increase year on year.
The lender has defied a banking industry trend of lower 2020 full year profits. Family Bank Group’s increased profit was mainly driven by interest income.
The lender’s pretax profit grew 1.3% to Kshs 1.44 billion, in what Family Bank Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Mbithi said it demonstrates “the Bank’s resilience amidst a challenging operating environment”.
The Group reported a 14.9% growth in the total assets to Kshs 90.6 billion with customer deposits registering a growth of 20.3% to Kshs 69.8 billion for the period under review.
Investments in government securities increased by 65.9% from Kshs 10.2 billion to Kshs 17 billion. This boosted the Bank’s liquidity position to 37.1%, significantly above the minimum requirement of 20%.
“Our loan book expanded by 11.8% year on year to close at Kshs 56.6 billion as we continued to support our customers who saw new opportunities despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This support was in diverse sectors such as manufacturing, agribusiness, trade, logistics and technology,” said Mbithi.
Net interest income grew by 28.4%, a Kshs 1.4 billion growth to Kshs 6.4 billion compared to Kshs 5 billion in a similar period in 2019.
The Bank’s operating expenses increased by 20.2% to Kshs 7.6 billion from Kshs 6.3 billion mainly driven by loan loss provisions which increased by more than 2.5 times from Kshs 734 million in 2019 to Kshs 1.62 billion in 2020, a significant increase on a year-on-year basis.
Total non-funded income dropped by 4% to Kshs 2.7 billion partially owing to the waiver on mobile transaction fees to cushion our customers against the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Looking ahead, our 2020 to 2024 strategy continues to be pegged on delivering end to end value chain propositions that begin from delivering an unmatched digital and customer experience, growing our pool of strategic partners to diversifying solutions targeted at different customers in our value chain. We are also deliberate in building a sustainable and responsible business. As such, we have joined the UN Global Compact and to which we have committed Kshs 300 million to advance inclusive development,” added Mbithi.
The Group recorded a decline in net non-performing loans of 11.4% to close at Kshs 3.9 billion.
The Bank has restructured loans of over Kshs 16 billion as it seeks to support MSMEs during the coronavirus pandemic.