Loans at NCB Financial jumped 19 percent from the year ago period to $549 billion at the end of December 2021, from $461 billion in 2020, with net interest income rising to $16.3 billion from $13.8 billion in the final quarter of 2020, while fees and commission income rose to $6.4 billion from $5.9 billion but foreign exchange gains plummeted from $5.4 billion to just $1.6 billion while Insurance revenues net jumped from $8.6 billion to $9.3 billion.
Expenses rose from $25.6 billion to $27 billion helping to reduce profit for the quarter and resulting in $2.64 billion due to NCB shareholders compared to $3.9 billion in 2020 for earnings per share of $1.15 versus $1.66 in 2020.
The group’s future performance is highly dependent on growth in loans, normalization of interest rates and improved performance of the life insurance arm that dropped $1 billion in profits in the quarter. Foreign exchange gains have played a big part in the past but this is unlikely to be an area that can be relied on for sustainable high income growth going forward. The banking arm also has to find ways to reduced costs in personal banking to turn the loss of $322 million into a profit.
The group now has total assets of $2,025 billion up from $1,797 billion at the end of 2020 and total equity capital of $164 billion.
The group did not declare a dividend at the meeting of directors.
Profit falls at NCB Financial
February 3, 2022 by
