Azania bank profit up 55 per cent

 Florian Jamax

TANZANIA: AZANIA Bank’s net profit increased by 55 per cent at the end of December last year, attributed to increased net interest income.

According to the bank’s financial statement, net profit increased to 29.2bn/- compared to 18.8bn/- posted in a similar period of the preceding year. The lender, in the club of the elite banks with over 2.1tri/- assets, registered positive results due to the strong growth in net interest income.

The net interest income, the report showed, has increased by 30.8 per cent to 100.5bn/- from 76.8bn/- registered in the prior year. The statement showed the increase in the net interest income was pushed up by the loans book that lent some 1.62tri/- until last December against 953.2bn/- posted in December 2022.

Additionally, non-interest income climbed by 1.42 per cent to 37.4bn/- from 36.8bn/- , thanks to the increased foreign exchange, fees and commissions. The statement showed foreign exchange raked in 12.6bn/- up from 8.5bn/- of a similar period in 2022 while commissions and fees jumped to 11.6bn/- from 9.2bn/- registered in a previous year.

The lender’s non-performing loans (NPLs) slightly went down by 38.6 per cent to 146.9bn/- until last December from 239.5bn/- registered in 2022. Despite the decrease, the lender has an NPLs ratio of 7.44 per cent which is above the regulator threshold of 5.0 per cent.

Also, the bank’s customer deposits have increased by 67.5 per cent to 1.54tri/- from 919.6bn/- registered in the previous year.

Azania’s operating expenses have also climbed by 32.3 per cent to 32.0bn/- of the year ended December from 24.2bn/- registered in a prior year, pushed up by salaries and benefits fees and commission.

According to the statement, salaries and benefits increased to 39.6bn/- from 37.3bn/-, equivalent to 6.3 per cent, while fees and commission increased more than three times to 3.25bn/- from 1.03bn/-.

Increment in Salaries and fees is pushed by the increased number of staff to 615 at the end of December from 571 in a similar period last year. The lender’s branches reached 26 after adding two more in the year until last December.