By Macharia Kamau

The National Bank of Kenya has reported a 5.9 per cent increase on pre tax profits for the nine months ended September 30.

The bank’s profitability for the nine-month period grew to Sh1.43 billion compared to Sh1.35 billion during a similar period last year. The bank attributed the performance to significant growth in interest income from loans and advances, which went up 49 per cent.

NBK Managing Director, Rueben Marambii, also said better cost management by the bank had been reflected in the growth.

"The Bank has been observing the market trends keenly and despite the market pressure, interest rates charged on loans and advances have remained unchanged, while at the same time giving a good yield on deposits," he said in a statement yesterday.

With a balance sheet that is heavy in liquid assets, NBK has been a target of competitors, as well as a key shareholder — National Social Security Fund (NSSF) — all keen to acquire a stake when the government offloads its shares in the bank through a planned privatisation process.

NBK has been through a slow and tedious restructuring process, which has seen its huge debt load on its balance sheet reduced significantly. However, shareholders have yet to get any dividends since the restructuring program begun.

In the nine months of this year, the bank’s asset base increased by 35 per cent, to Sh55 billion from Sh41 billion.

Its customer deposits went up 27 per cent from Sh33 billion to Sh41 billion, while loans and advances grew by 49 per cent, from Sh8 billion to Sh12 billion while the total operating income grew by 5 per cent to Sh4.08 billion during the period from Sh3.88 billion last year.

tough environment

The bank’s growth in profitability is better than many of its counterparts, which have taken a beating from the tough economic environment to post marginal or unchanged profits.

Equity Bank saw its pre tax profits drop 0.2 per cent to Sh4.25 billion for the nine months to September, while Kenya Commercial Bank posted a 1.3 per cent growth to Sh5.275 billion for the same period.

Among the banks that have so far announced their results for the nine months, only Standard Chartered defied the odds to report a double-digit growth at 44 per cent, to Sh5.2 billion.