Co-operative Bank Group Managing Director and CEO Gideon Muriuki./ Courtesy.  

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 19 – Co-operative Bank Group’s net profit went up by 20 percent to Sh11.6 billion during the third quarter of 2021 compared to Sh9.8 billion reported over the same period last year. 

“The strong performance by the bank exceeds the pre-pandemic performance and is in line with the group’s strategic focus that supports growth, resilience and agility,” Co-op Bank Chief Executive Gideon Muriuki said. 

The lender, which is majority owned by co-operative societies, revealed that revenue for the period under review grew 19.2 percent to Sh44.4 billion from Sh37.2 billion in the same period last year driven by economic recovery witnessed across the country. 

Net interest income grew by more than a fifth to Sh28.7 billion from Sh23.6 billion, as borrowers resumed servicing their loans. 

On the other hand, non-funded income which comprises fees and commissions, grew by 15.6 per cent to Sh15.7 billion from Sh13.6 billion. Faster growth in income compensated for increased loan provisions, which pushed up the lender’s expenses by 19.2 per cent to Sh28 billion.

“A successful Universal Banking model and the implementation of Sales Force Effectiveness has seen the Group serve over 9 million Account holders across all sectors,” the bank said in a statement. 

The bank said credit management will be a key focus area as the lender seeks a return to its non-performing loans levels before the pandemic.

It has already retained a global consulting firm to craft a credit risk adaptation project dubbed ‘Project Kilele.’

Additionally, the lender will seek to decentralise its loan management to the branches, lending units and relationship management teams to enhance the collection

Shareholders’ funds grew to Sh95 billion from Sh82 billion in 2020. 

During the same period, the bank says it moved 93 percent of all customer transactions to alternative delivery channels; an expanded 24-hour contact centre, mobile banking, 589 ATMs, internet banking and over 23,000 Co-op Kwa Jirani agency banking terminals. 

The lender said its focus on digital banking through the Mco-op Cash Mobile Wallet continued to play a pivotal role in the growth of non-funded income with 5.3 million customers registered and loans worth Sh51.3 Billion disbursed year-to-date, averaging Sh5.7 billion per month.

During the same period, over 139,299 customers have taken up the MSME packages that they rolled out in 2018, and 14,665 have been trained on business management skills.

“To date we have disbursed over  Sh25 billion to MSMEs through our E-Credit solution,” Muriuki said.