If there was much competition in the banking sector in Jamaica, Scotia Group would be on its way out of business, unless they mended the poor service there are currently dishing out to customers.

Scotia Group stock could deliver handsomely in 2022.

The banking arm is delivering some atrocious customer service of late such as bouncing cheques for no funds when such accounts were adequately funded. Customers can’t get the use of the transfer of funds feature, for the credit cards are expired but no one within the bank advises of the expiration and the availability of the new card. Even when communication is made, with the bank, months pass without action. What about tokens that don’t work, leading to a nightmare trying to get the problem resolved. The service has rotted recently and they need to do something about it fast.
Though the service has gotten lousy of late and some may say it never was good, investors may find positives that they can profit from, at least that is what the group’s first quarter results to January this year show, thanks partly to the action by the country’s central bank. Most investors would not come to that conclusion from the net profit for the quarter compared to that in 2021, for while the 2021 quarterly profit came in at $1.75 billion, the latest results were only up marginally by $34 million to $1.784 billion. On the surface, there is nothing to get excited about, but closer examination tells a different story.
The results were vastly better than the $1.12 billion reported for the October quarter which suffered from a big drop in revenues. Loans fell in the quarter from $208 billion at the end of October to $201 billion at the end of January while investable funds grew to $339 billion from $321 billion at the end of October but net interest income climbed to $6.16 billion from $5.7 billion in the October quarter coming from a rise in gross interest income of $454 million quarter over quarter. Interest cost was static at $452 million. There was a strong improvement in net fee and commission income that rose from $1.1 billion in the October quarter to $1.5 billion but was a bit lower than the $1.67 billion in the January 2021 period, other revenues dropped from $973 million to $295 million in the latest quarter compared to January 2021.
Net interest income increase “was primarily attributable to an increase in interest earned on the investment portfolio and improved retail loan performance,” Scotia Group reported in their release of the quarterly results.

Audrey Tugwell Henry Scotia group’s CEO

Since the end of January, the Bank of Jamaica hiked the overnight rate to 4.50 percent from 2.5 percent, this move will drive an increase in net interest income for the group as the cost of funds will remain fairly flat while investments income balloons.
Expected credit losses on loans rose from $430 million in 2021 to $569 million in the January quarter this year but show an improvement over the $819 million in the October quarter. Net interest income after credit losses rose to $5.6 billion from $5.4 billion in 2021. Net fees and other income fell from $5.44 billion in the January 2021 quarter to $4.78 billion in 2022, resulting in a total net income of $10.37 billion, down from $10.8 billion in 2021.
Lower costs helped with the 2022 results, with expenses falling to $6 billion from $6.5 billion, net of asset tax of $1.36 billion in 2022 versus $1.26 billion in 2021, Other operating costs fell by $500 million from January 2021 to $2.8 billion in 2022.
Other comprehensive income shows an unrealized loss of $1 billion on investments compared to just $123 million in the 2021 first quarter.
Segment results provide another view of developments within the group that could point to the way forward. The Treasury segment delivered 22.4 percent more revenues from third parties to hit $763 million with a profit before tax of $138 million up from $120 in 2021. The retail division suffered a decline of 15 percent, with revenues from third parties hitting $4.57 billion from $5.38 billion in 2021 resulting in profit before tax of $103 million, down sharply from $492 million in 2021. Corporate and Commercial Banking pulled in net income of $2.7 billion, down from $2.8 billion, with profit surging to $1.44 billion versus $967 million in 2021. Investment Management pulled in $822 million in revenues with a profit of $404 million, from revenues of $878 million in 2021 with a profit of $718 million.  The insurance division raked in $1.33 billion in revenues up from $984 million, with profit jumping to $857 million from $567 million. The segment classified as Other, generated revenues of $217 million and a profit of $175 million and delivered revenues of just $83 million and a profit of $30 million in 2022.
The Group’s assets grew by $38 billion or 6.9 percent to $591 billion at January 2022. This was predominantly, a result of the growth in cash resources of $42 billion or 32.4 percent due to increased deposits and places the group in a good position to expand the loan portfolio when demands pick up, with the resurgence now taking place in the wider economy.
A dividend of 35 cents per stock unit in respect of the first quarter, was approved for payment on April 20 to stockholders on record as of March 29.