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This comes as the economy continues to recover from the consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the tightening of global financing conditions
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s biggest bank, Stanbic Bank, has reported a 23.5% rise in the first-half profit after tax to Shs 200bn driven by a huge growth in interest and non-interest income and reduction in operational costs.
Stanbic Bank, a subsidiary of Stanbic Bank Uganda Holdings Ltd and a unit of South African’s Standard Bank Group, said its revenue growth was recorded across all the parameters.
Revenue experienced impressive growth during the initial half of the year, marking a 24.2% increment to Shs 590 billion buoyed by a 34.3% growth in net interest income of Shs 355 billion and an 11.6% growth in non-interest revenue of Shs 235 billion despite the inflationary pressures, Stanbic Bank CEO Anne Juuko said.
Net loans and advances to customers expanded by 4.2% to Shs 4.0 trillion, while customer deposits rose by 1.1% to Shs 6.2 trillion. The bank’s total assets also registered growth, surging from Shs 9.3 trillion in the previous year to Shs 9.4 trillion.
“From a nonfinancial perspective, we continue to support the Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU) agenda, with over 85% of our procurement opportunities going to local suppliers, thus creating indirect employment,” Juuko said.
“In addition to this, Stanbic being the second largest employer in the banking sector, employs close to 2000 employees, 99% of whom are Ugandan talent.”
She said the bank continues to support SMEs and provide specialised solutions to critical sectors of the economy such as agriculture and education.
She said the bank recognized the challenges faced by educational institutions at the onset of the academic year and thereby revamped their value proposition by increasing unsecured financing up to Shs 500 million, shortening the access time to a mere 24 hours whilst allowing repayment schedules over two academic terms.
“The foregoing interventions are just a few examples of how we continuously tailored our responses to the arising challenges across the different client segments,” Juuko said.
“This is a true demonstration of our unwavering commitment to innovatively support our clients in not just weathering the tough economic cycles but providing a platform for them to thrive in the medium and long term.”
This comes as the economy continues to recover from the consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the tightening of global financing conditions.
Last year, Stanbic Bank recorded a 33% growth in profit after tax to Shs 366bn due to a deliberate move to diversify revenue streams arising from lending to various sectors of the economy.
Financial inclusion agenda
Juuko said the bank’s FlexiPay service had exceeded 700,000 individuals as of June 2023 validating the customer’s need for a frictionless and affordable business platform.
She said the platform registered over 400% growth in transactional volumes processed, encompassing a substantial transaction value surpassing Shs 1 trillion during the first half of the year.
Stanbic Bank’s FlexiPay is a financial technology inclusion service that allows users without bank accounts to create wallets, send and receive money, deposit money into their wallets using mobile money, and bank accounts using their phone numbers.
Andrew Mashanda, the Chief Executive at Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited said the SUHL continue to record growth across its businesses driven by its anchor subsidiary, the bank.
He said SUHL’s SBG Securities Uganda Limited, a brokerage and asset management subsidiary, has demonstrated commendable progress, attributable to the recovery of activity in the brokerage segment and the growth recorded in the asset management segment.
He said its real estate business, Stanbic Properties Limited, has remained profitable and continues to
pursue key projects aimed at enhancing its portfolio and value proposition as Stanbic Business Incubator Limited remains a medium of supporting the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Uganda. He added that the FLYHUB, a technology subsidiary, is at the forefront of driving our digital transformation and innovation agenda.
“We will continue to harness collaboration across all our subsidiaries and leverage the strength of our ecosystems to build on our present momentum and accelerate our growth,” he said.
