05 Apr 2023

Standard Chartered Bank Botswana has delivered a strong performance as total operating income increased by 22 per cent to P903 million, compared to P739 million in the same period in 2021.

Presenting key financial highlights at the bank’s full year results announcement for the period ended 31 December 2022 on Monday, chief financial officer, Ms Tapiwa Butale expressed gratitude that despite the difficult economic environment, the bank’s income increased.

The increase, she said, was from margin income, fees and good contribution from all the segments within the bank- especially from the corporate business. 

The margin income delivered a 15 per cent growth in 2022, while  fees income delivered nine per cent increase year-on-year.

Besides the growth noted on the balance sheet from corporate business, she said another growth was noted from a retail banking point of view.

“In 2022 we continued to drive our different strategic agenda, which is centred around becoming truly digital, driving efficiency and enhancing returns for our shareholders.

So we came to market last week with a strong set of results, despite difficult economic environment such as a high inflationary environment and increased volatility in terms of market liquidity,” said Ms Butale.

As a result of the volatility experienced in the market, she said the bank recorded 12 per cent increase on interest expense in 2022. She said the bank was also able to secure the fundamentals within the balance sheet and to also grow the core deposits from 54 per cent contribution on the local currency book to about 60 per cent.

She said the bank’s operating cost line was reduced by eight per cent year-on-year with the major drivers being a reduction on recharges cost base, as well as staff costs. 

Going forward, she said the bank would focus on cost efficiency,  but doing so cautiously in order to continue finding business growth.

Additionally, she said profit before tax was up by 229 per cent to P253 million, profit after tax up by 235 per cent to P202 million, while the Return on Equity improved to 17 per cent, from 5.8 per cent in 2021.

Ms Butale said the Capital Adequacy Ratio was at 17 per cent against regulatory requirement of 12.5 per cent, while  the total balance sheet grew by six per cent to P16 billion. 

However, she said the bank experienced a decrease in operating expenses, down by eight per cent.

The chief financial officer also noted that diligent implementation of the bank’s digitisation strategy had resulted in continued sustainable gains with the cost-to-income ratio down from 89 per cent to 67 per cent for the year.

She said the bank’s confidence in the delivery of its strategy was also reflected in shareholder value, with an increase in share price by 91 thebe to 287 thebe, in the year where the bank commemorated 125 years of doing business in Botswana as a partner for the growth and prosperity of the country and its citizens.

“These actions, coupled with deliberate cost containment actions, have delivered further efficiencies across the business,” she added.

Through the launch of the bank’s Agent Banking Model, which is expected to continue the reduction of foot traffic from the traditional branch network, Ms Butale said the bank had managed to increase access to its banking services across the country.

Furthermore, she said the digital adoption for the bank stood at 76 per cent up from 70 per cent in 2021, with 95 per cent of all transactions being carried out through digital channels.

Additionally, she noted that the banks’s Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking Business segment also recorded an income growth of 69 per cent year-on-year, balanced across all product lines, with bottom line profit growing 12 times to end the year at P153 million, compared to P14 million in 2021.

For the 2022 corporate commercial banking results, Standard Chartered Bank Botswana  head of corporate commercial and institutional banking, Mr Asuquo Nkposong said the segment recorded an income growth of 69 per cent year-on-year, across all product lines, with bottom line profit growing 12 times to end the year at P153 million, compared to P14 million in 2021.

A significant contributor to the success of the segment, Mr Nkposong said was the launch of the Chinese Renminbi product, which he said was a first-in-market product providing access to mainland China, as part of its China-Africa corridor deepening strategy.

Additionally, he said 99 per cent of the bank’s corporate clients had also successfully transitioned to the digital platform Straight2Bank Next Gen, which enabled clients to closely manage a myriad of transactions in real time.

To continue growing the business consistently, he stressed that ‘we believe in consistency and sustainability as a key focus for us in times of driving our strategy into the future, so our network is also going to continue to be an important force and we are going to be migrating more business into the digital platform.”

“We are bankers to other banks, so we are working with our partners, as our clients, to ensure we continue to provide them with unique services that can help to grow their businesses to leverage on some of our leading products,” said Mr Nkposong. Ends