NMB profit after tax grows 2.4 pc

DAILY NEWS Reporter

NATIONAL Microfinance Bank has recorded a 2.4 per cent increase in profit after tax in the year ended December 2016. The NMB Managing Director Ineke Bussemaker said in Dar es Salaam at the weekend that despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, NMB was able to deliver a good performance.

“The bank’s net profit increased to 153.7bn/- in the year under review from 150.3bn/- in 2015. The growth is attributed to an increase in the bank’s operating income which rose by 16 per cent,” she said. The bank’s interest income grew to 551bn/- from 438.7bn/- in the preceding year, which is equivalent to a 25.6 per cent growth.

The bank’s total assets grew by 8 per cent to 4.95tri/- in 2016 from 4.58tri/- of the previous year. Loans and advances to customers rose to 2.79tri/-, a 13 per cent increase from 2.48tri/-in the previous year. The loan growth was mainly driven by a growth of Salary Worker Loans which rose by 16 per cent from the prior year to 1.69tri/-.

Amidst the liquidity crunch experienced by many banks in 2016, asset growth was funded by a 172bn/-increase in customer deposits and 312bn/- growth in borrowed funds as well as the NMB Retail Bond which raised 41bn/-.

As a result, interest expenses grew by 49 per cent to 102.2bn/- from 68.5bn/- in the year 2015. “Customer deposits that are largely comprised of non-interest earning accounts rose by 4.8 per cent to 3.73tri/- from 3. 56tri/- in 2015,” she said.

“A number of our clients were adversely affected by the business climate in 2016, consequently this impacted the loan book quality which deteriorated to an NPL ratio of 4.8 per cent in 2016 from 2.4 per cent in 2015,” she said.

With 20 per cent market share in both loans and deposits, NMB has the 2nd largest balance sheet in the industry. For the 10th year in a row, NMB remains the most profitable bank in the country.