Stanbic Bank has posted UGX 127.4b Profit after tax in its 2020 half year performance ending June 2020.
This however, was less than that the UGX 134 billion profit after tax that was registered for the same period 2019.
The decline in profits was primarily attributed to the negative impact of Covid-19 that has disrupted the different sectors of the economy.
Speaking at the virtual press conference held for the release of the half year results, Ms Anne Juuko, the Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic Bank noted that despite the difficult operating environment, Stanbic bank has continued to show resilience and commitment to implementing a robust strategy in the current economic conditions.
“For example, Stanbic’s lending grew by 24% to UGX 3.4 trillion from UGX 2.7 trillion in June 2019 while maintaining the Compound annual growth rate of 16.4%. The bank also saw its customer deposits increase by UGX1.1 trillion from UGX 4.1 trillion in June 2019 to UGX 5.2 trillion in June 2020.This growth is attributed to the good relationship that we have without customers,” she said.
The report also shows that there was 26.5% growth in assets from UGX 6.1trillion to UGX 7.7 trillion, Half Year results for year 2020 show while the shareholders’ equity increase by UGX 247 billion.
Commenting on the performance, Patrick Mweheire, Regional CEO, Standard Bank Group attributed the resilient performance to the great strategy that the bank has in place especially for its customers.
“We have always stood by our clients in good and bad times.
In the last first half months which have been negatively affected by the Cocid-19 pandemic that saw several businesses closed while many lost their jobs, Stanbic has been able to lend a hand to its clients. We lowered our Prime Lending Rate twice during the period to 16% which is one of the lowest PLRs of all active retail financial institutions in Uganda. Our aim is to ensure our customers can benefit from more affordable lending rates,” he said.
The bank also extended Credit Relief Programmes to over 1,600 clients. With a portfolio of over 40,000 SME clients, the bank encouraged all SME customers whose incomes have been impacted as a result of COVID19 to apply for a loan repayment holiday based on their circumstances. Over 60% of the loans restructured in the Stanbic’s portfolio have been SMEs.
