National Bank of Kenya reports Sh1.2 billion pretax loss in 2015

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya's National Bank on Thursday reported a Sh1.2 billion pretax loss for 2015, hurt by bad loans that rose towards the end of the year, leading to a sharp increase in impairment charges.

The bank said its loan impairment charges rose by Sh3.2 billion last year, denting its overall performance. National Bank reported a pretax profit of Sh1.3 billion in 2014.

"The bank's non-performing loan portfolio increased sharply towards the end of 2015 undoing gain of Sh3.3 billion in profit before tax reported by the bank in quarter three of 2015," it said in a statement.

The bank's assets edged up 1.6 percent to Sh125 billion in 2015 while its net loans and advances climbed 3.3 percent to Sh67.8 billion, it said.

National Bank's net interest income, however, declined by Sh0.4 billion to Sh6.4 billion, due to an increase in interest expenses which rose by 50 percent to Sh5.9 billion on account of tight liquidity in 2015.

National Bank reported its financial results two days after it said its chief executive and five top managers had been placed on compulsory leave pending an internal audit.

The central bank said on Tuesday it welcomed the board of National Bank's actions to strengthen the bank while ensuring its operations continued smoothly.

Two Kenyan lenders, Imperial Bank and Dubai Bank Kenya Ltd, were placed under statutory management by the central bank last year, causing central bank Governor Patrick Njoroge to vow to tighten supervision of banks.