Co-operative Bank Group's net profit declines by 24 per cent to Sh10.9 billion

By Fredrick Obura 

Co-operative Bank Group CEO Gideon Muriuki (PHOTO: FILE)

NAIROBI, KENYA: Co-op Bank Group’s profit after tax for the financial year 2020 has declined by

24 per cent on account of increased Covid19-related loan loss provisions and the absorption of currency translation losses in South Sudan operation.

The bank on Thursday reported a profit before tax of Sh14.3 billion for the financial year 2020 compared to Sh20.7 billion recorded in 2019, and a Profit after tax of Sh10.9 billion compared to Sh14.3 billion in 2019.

The Group has taken loan loss provisions of Sh8.5 billion, being a 235 per cent increase from Sh2.54 billion in 2019 in appreciation of the challenges that businesses and households are grappling with from the disruptions occasioned by the ongoing pandemic.

“We continue to actively engage our customers to support them through this period, by re-aligning the servicing of facilities, funding and transactional needs as the situation unfolds,” said Gideon Muriuki, Chief Executive Officer
“A total of Sh49 billion in loans have been restructured to support customers impacted by the pandemic.”

Co-operative Bank of South Sudan is a unique joint venture (JV) partnership with the Government of South Sudan (Co-op Bank 51 per cent and GOSS 49 per cent) made a Profit before tax of Sh107.8 million in 2020. The performance however translated to a monetary loss of Sh1.65 billion attributable to hyperinflation accounting occasioned by currency devaluation of the South Sudanese pound.

Recently acquired subsidiary Kingdom Bank (former Jamii Bora Bank) made a profit after tax loss of Sh76.3 million for the year.

The announcement comes a day after KCB Group also reported a decline in net profit for the same financial year.
KCB Group's net profit fell by 22 per cent in the year ending December 2020, with the lender posting a profit after tax of Sh19.6 billion.

This compared to Sh25.2 billion that the listed lender posted in 2019, in what was blamed mainly on the increased loan-loss provision.

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Besides increased loan-loss provisions, the bank also attributed the drop in profitability to subdued economic activity arising from the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic significantly affected our business across the markets we operate in, with most of them going into some degree of lockdown. The negative impact on the economy drastically reduced our customers' ability to operate necessitating loan restructures,” said KCB Group Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara.