Barclays first quarter profit up 20 per cent
By Jackson Okoth
The credit market continues to experience a tight supply even as commercial banks record improvements in their quarterly performance.
Yesterday, Barclays Bank of Kenya (BBK) announced a 20 per cent increase in pre-tax profit to Sh2.2 billion for the first quarter ending March 31, this year.
It joins a list comprising National Bank of Kenya and Equity Group, considered the largest retail banks, whose results indicate improvements despite a challenging business environment seen since the beginning of this year.
Improved quarterly results for the banking sector is seen when Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has been pushing commercial banks to lower cost of credit. While CBK has lowered the cash ratio from six per cent to five per cent, this has had minimal effect on lending rates.
Ignored adjustments
Despite its decision to lower the Central Bank Rate from nine per cent to eight per cent in a space of five months, commercial banks have largely ignored these adjustments.
Uncertainty over the direction this economy will take this year is already forcing banks to move from long to short term lending, starving off the business sector of funds.
With competition for deposits becoming intense between banks and other credit providers, BBK’s customer deposits went up by 28 per cent to Sh715million from Sh560million, while operating expenses declined by five per cent from Sh3.2 billion to Sh3.1 billion.
"We are very pleased with our quarterly performance given the market conditions," said Mr Adan Mohamed, Managing Director of Barclays Kenya, in a statement released yesterday.
"The key drivers to the performance have been focus on cost management and improvement in the loan loss provision."
Income has been broadly flat versus the same period last year, reflecting the bank’s proactive prudent lending policy in the face of a general decline in the level of activity in the economy.
While Barclays has in the past concentrated on the high-income end of the market, competition has been slowing driving it down the bottom of the pyramid.
For instance, while it has set up premier centres for its high- end customers, the bank is also targeting other segments, with its ‘Double your Salo’ aimed at the personal sector.