Stanbic Holdings PLC, a member of the Standard Bank Group (SBG), has announced the results for its performance for last year.
Stanbic Kenya and South Sudan’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Joshua Oigara said the firm’s strategic plan formulated and adopted three years ago continued to facilitate growth and organizational resilience.
He noted that the strategic plan, which was founded on digital innovations for service delivery, enhanced consumer experience and increased operating efficiencies, had translated into an accelerated balance sheet growth.
“Despite the uncertain and challenging operating environment last year, the business delivered strong results thanks to focused execution across our strategic plan anchored on catalytic growth pillars such as customer service excellence and technology integration to boost operating efficiencies,” stated Oigara.
The CEO added that by having a diversified portfolio of corporate, commercial, investment and retail banking financial solutions, the lender posted a 28 percent revenue growth to close at Sh 32 billion in the period under review.
He pointed out that customer deposits increased by 12 percent to stand at Sh272 billion, while loan and advances to customers were up 27 percent to close at Sh236 billion, highlighting the Bank’s commitment to supporting economic growth and development.
Further, Oigara explained that the shareholders at one of the listed firms, the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), will be subjected to approval at the next Annual General Meeting, as it enjoys Sh4.98 billion in dividends which is 55 percent of the 2022 profit after tax and represents a 40 percent increase in total dividend payment from the previous year’s Sh3.56 billion.
Stanbic Holdings Chief Financial and Value Officer Mr. Dennis Musau noted that the significant progress on its strategic plan and requisite measures made by the Bank over time have cumulatively contributed to its strong growth momentum.
“Over time, we have made investments to drive faster customer acquisition, efficient and convenient service and internal operational efficiency in order to improve service delivery,” said Musau.
Musau said that the outcome of these efforts is evident in the Cost to Income Ratio which reduced from 50.9 percent in 2021 to 46.7 percent in 2022, boosting Returns on Equity to 15.3 percent, up from 13.3 percent in 2021.
“Along the same lane of customer focused investments, as the East African region continues to thrive as one of the fastest growing regions on the continent. Stanbic launched borderless banking in 2022 which enables customers to transact seamlessly and real-time across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan. To date, this platform has facilitated more than USD 800M worth of transactions across the countries and contributed non-funded revenue to the bank,” Musau added.
Speaking during a question-and-answer session of the event, Standard Bank Group East Africa CEO Patrick Mweheire said that the focus areas needed to be considered where the growth and scale is driven by clients’ needs stressing that it is a key factor to the growth of any business.
Mweheire, while emphasizing on branch openings, noted that region play was also important as it will enable customers to have access to facilities and services more comfortably.
“Through the Stanbic Foundation and strategic partners, the Bank disbursed KES 76 million in grants and catalytic funding to over 400 Micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, showing stability and future readiness as an area of focus,” said Mweheire.
Stanbic Holdings PLC is a financial service organization of the parent company based in South Africa with subsidiaries in Kenya as its headquarters and South Sudan.
By Eunice Wangare
