NBS Bank turnaround strategy on track, profit up 102%

NBS Bank plc, which has posted a 102 percent profit after-tax increase in the year ended June 30 2020, has touted its transformation journey for boosting profit.

The bank’s profit has jumped  to K2.8 billion from K1.4 billion during the same period last year and is “a significant improvement on comparable period last year”.  It also builds on the K4.5 billion reported for the full year in 2019.

In the published financial results jointly signed by chief executive officer Kwanele Ngwenya, chairperson Vizenge Kumwenda, director Matthews Mtumbuka and chief finance officer Vera Zulu, the bank has seen its net interest income growing by 55 percent to K13.2 billion from the prior year’s K8.5 billion.

The bank has attributed this feat to the growth in loan book and effective management of investments in money market instruments.

Reads the statement in part: “The bank continues to build capacity of digital offering, particularly mobile, Internet and agency banking.”

The bank’s operating expenses rose by 17 percent from K10.8 billion last year to this year’s K12.5 billion largely due to planned investments in systems and increase in revenue generating transactional expenses.

The Malawi Stock Exchange-listed bank registered a 22 percent growth in customers deposits from K113 billion to K138.1 billion while loans and advances grew by 22 percent to K37 billion from K30.6 billion. Money market investments also grew by 49 percent year-on-year to K111 billion from K74.2 billion.

“The improvement in  our performance in the first half of 2020 amidst the current environmental challenges is due to flexibility and dynamism in strategy implementation which has enabled the bank to focus on high revenue generating activities,” says the bank.

NBS Bank sees the next six months being challenging in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has subdued economic performance.