Barclays Bank of Kenya has reported a profit after tax of 2.6 billion Kenyan Shillings, for the period ending on the 31st of March 2019.
This is an increase from the 2.5 billion Kenyan Shillings figure, recorded in the same period in 2018.
The Bank’s Interest income also increased to 7.4 billion Kenyan Shillings from 6.9 billion Kenyan Shillings recorded in 2018. The increase in interest income, was driven by investments in government securities, as well as customer loans.
Income from customer loans increased from 5.2 billion Kenyan Shillings to 5.4 billion Kenyan Shillings while securities increased from 1.6 billion Kenyan Shillings in 2018, to 1.9 billion Kenyan Shillings.
Net customer loans and advances grew by 9% to close 180 billion Kenyan Shillings.
The increase in net customer loans and advances is as a result of a key focus on products namely trade, asset finance, mortgage and scheme loans that have recorded strong growth year on year. Other funding deployed to investments in government securities and trading, increased by 38% to 117 billion Kenyan Shillings.
Barclays Bank’s expenses slightly reduced to 4.8 billion Kenyan Shillings from 4.9 billion Kenyan Shillings in 2018.
This came, after a reduction in staff costs to 2.3 billion Kenyan Shillings from 2.7 billion Kenyan Shillings in 2018.
Customer deposits also grew by 16 percent to 224 billion Kenyan Shillings with transactional accounts constituting 66% of the total deposits.
Non funded income was up by 14 percent year on year, driven by various streams including Timiza, foreign exchange earnings and fixed income trading.
Barclays Bank of Kenya is majority owned by Absa Group Limited, which was formerly known as Barclays Africa Group Limited.
Barclays Kenya, will eventually rebrand to Absa Kenya after approval from shareholders, for the name change.
The bank incurred one-off costs amounting to 243 million Kenyan Shillings.
The said costs, were reported under exceptional items, in the ongoing separation from Barclays Plc and the related brand as well as name change initiatives.
According to Barclays bank, the separation and the rebranding to Absa Kenya will have a significant impact on its results for the next 2 years.
