STEWARD Bank has reported a $5,41 million profit for the year ended February 29, 2016 compared to a $8,3 million loss the prior year, thanks to various strategies including cost cutting measures.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
The bank employed a cost optimisation strategy, cleaned-up its loan book and refocused the business around transactional banking in the period under review, chairman, Oluwatomisin Fashina said in a statement accompanying the bank’s financial results.
“We consider this to be a major step towards our positioning as a leading financial services platform in the country, providing products and services to millions of Zimbabweans,” he said.
Fashina said transactional banking registered a significant growth after they launched a universal banking platform that allows clients from other banks to use their services.
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Due to innovations in transactional banking, revenue grew by 23%. Net operating income came in at $24,33 million from $19,81 million recorded in the prior year over the same period.
Total costs for Steward Bank declined by 38% compared to the previous year. Operating expenditure for the period stood at $18,13 million, down from $29,29 million prior year.
The bank’s core capital base stood at $38,6 million at the end of the reporting period, exceeding the central bank’s minimum capital requirement of $25 million.
Total assets grew within the recorded period to $168,69 million from $164,63 million prior year.
At the end of the financial year, Steward Bank reported a liquidity ratio of 72%, above the required minimum of 30%. This comes as the economy is suffering from a growing cash crisis.
Cash and cash equivalents had a slight uptick of $797 784 over the same period last year to $24,55 million.
“We managed to reduce our non-performing loan ratio from 35% in the previous year to 13,5% as at the end of February 29 2016,” Fashina said.
In terms of lending, the bank’s loan to deposit ratio averaged 58% due to a more cautious lending approach.