NIC Bank Group’s pretax profit rose 3 per cent in 2015. The lender plans to nearly double its branch network to tap faster growing markets such as retail banking, it said on Wednesday. The mid-tier lender renowned for asset financing said profit before tax rose to Sh6.4 billion from Sh6.23 billion in 2014, despite a surge in provisions for bad debts.
The bank said it would increase the number of outlets in Kenya to 50 by 2018 from 27 at the end of last year.
“NIC bank will continue rolling out its strategic shift of the business towards the retail and SME (small and medium enterprise) space, a move that is aimed at ensuring future sustainable growth and returns,” it said in a statement.
In 2015, NIC’s bad debt provisions soared to Sh1.65 billion from Sh329 million after the central bank raised rates in the middle of the year, sending commercial interest rates as high as 25 percent.
