26 Mar 2014

Standard Chartered Bank Botswana (SCBB) has become the first of the bank’s global network to reach its P1 billion mark in income.

SCBB chief executive officer, Mr Moatlhodi Lekaukau announced this during presentation of the financial results of the year ended 31 December 2013 in Gaborone on March 25.

Mr Lekaukau said the bank exceeded P1 billion in revenue for the first time to deliver a double digit growth of 15 per cent or P322 million turnover in profit after tax to top last year’s P279 million .

He said their growth was driven by a solid performance from both Consumer Banking and Wholesale Banking. He said the performance was despite the challenging economic circumstances under which they operated as a bank with local competitors.

He said Consumer Banking continued to deliver a steady incremental income on the back of increased lending and a more diversified asset book with Consumer Banking loans and advances increasing by 28 per cent in 2013.

Mr Lekaukau also said the business enhanced its deposit offering to customers, allowing them to save as they borrowed. This resulted in a 17 per cent increase in consumer deposits while mortgage and SME lending registered growth of 45 per cent and 180 per cent year on year.

Mr Lekaukau attributed the exponential growth of 180 % they had seen in the SME sector to relaxing their lending policies towards SMEs.

However he said their lending was to more established businesses as they shied away from investing in start-ups businesses which was too risky.

Head of Consumer Banking, Mr Duncan Woods said although they had not moved away from the personal loan book they had given a lot of injection to SMEs and mortgages which explained their growth.

Meanwhile Wholesale banking‘s total income increased by 8 per cent, delivering a good performance as well, despite challenging market conditions and a highly competitive landscape.

Mr Lekaukau also noted the bank supported a number of large corporations that were significant contributors to the economy such as Okavango Diamonds.

The bank had also made significant investments in retailers like Choppies by buying a 13 per cent stake in their shares.

Overall he said his bank was in good shape as their balance sheet continued to strengthen with loans to customers rising by 26 per cent to P6.3 billion and deposits from non-bank customers rising by 8 per cent to P 7.9 billion.

He said the bank was well positioned for growth especially with its refreshed group strategy.

He added despite the weak global economy they were hoping the relocation of the Diamond Trading Centre from London to Gaborone would contribute positively towards growth.

He further said the restructuring of their businesses, consumer banking and Wholesale Banking, which they were workingon would enable them to mend turnaround time and improve their business.

Chief financial officer, Mr Mpho Masupe said even though they had not necessarily targeted the P1 billion mark the feat was a significant achievement that ensured that they become major players among top 25 global markets of Standard Chartered banks around the world. Ends