Cooperative Bank has registered a 56 per cent increase in net profit in the first quarter of the year to Sh5.8 billion on higher interest and increase in non-interest income.
The lender saw total operating income grow by 17 per cent from Sh14.4 billion to Sh16.8 billion while total non-interest income surged by 41.7 per cent from Sh4.5 billion to Sh6.4 billion.
“The strong performance by the bank has been contributed by the group’s strategic focus on sustainable growth, resilience and agility,” said Gideon Muriuki, the Managing Director.
The lender’s net interest income growing by 6 per cent from Sh9.8 billion to Sh10.4 billion while total operating expenses declined by 3 per cent from Sh9.3 billion to Sh9 billion.
In total, the group provided Sh1.5 billion to carter for bad loans compared to Sh2.3 billion provided in 2021 on rising quality of the asset book as businesses and households continue to recover from the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our Gross Non-Performing Loan (NPL) Book has reduced by 5 per cent from last year, with our NPL ratio up to 13.3 per cent against 15.2 per cent in a similar period last year. This affirms our credit quality and growth strategies, and will continue to improve to single digit pre-pandemic NPL levels,” the bank said in a statement.
The increase was attributed by the Co-operative Bank of South Sudan, a joint venture partnership with government of South Sudan with Cooperative owning 51 per cent returned a profit of Sh43.9 million.
Co-op Trust Investment Services contributed Sh53.7 million in profit before tax with funds under management increasing to Sh190.2 billion compared to Sh128.4 billion in March 2021.