Family Bank Half Year Profit Soars, Lifted by Deposits and Loans

The first six months of the year for Family Bank has seen its profits soar to Ksh345 million, tripling against the same period of review last year.

Having posted a half-year profit of Ksh101.5 million as at the end of June 2018, Family Bank’s latest financials for the half-year ending June 2019 reveal that its profits have surged upwards by 358%.

“The growth is buoyed by increased customer deposits and growth in interest from higher loan uptake,” Family bank said in a statement.

Increase in its loan book by Ksh2.9 billion saw it grow to hit Ksh46.7 billion as at the end of H1. This contributed to a net interest margin growth of 13% to hit Ksh2.29 billion.

The lender’s deposit book meanwhile grew by 13% to Ksh54 billion, up from Ksh47 billion that was reported over the same period last year.

“The Bank’s liquidity remains stable at 12.9% above the minimum statutory ratio of 20%. Loan loss provision decreased by 13.5% in the period under review,” Family Bank said.

Foreign exchange trading income and other fees and commissions saw non-interest income grow 5% to Ksh1.31 billion.

Family Bank’s Digital Growth a Sign of Financial Inclusion

The bank’s Chair Dr. Wilfred Kiboro said that the lender will continue to grow investment in financial technology innovations and leverage strategic partnerships so as “to meet the needs of the ever-growing SME industry.”

“We have continued on an upward growth trajectory thanks to increased lending especially on our digital platform PesaPap,” Dr. Kiboro said.

He added, “Our investment in digital banking and our deposit mobilization strategy has borne fruit as witnessed in our half-year profits.” he said.

Digital growth was also a contributing factor to Family Bank’s turnaround last year, when in September it posted a nine-month profit of Ksh187.8 million.

The upsurge came against the previous year’s loss over the same period of review which had amounted to Ksh743.1 million.

Family Bank New CEO

In February, the lender announced that it had promoted from within by appointing Rebecca Mbithi as the Family Bank CEO.

Mbithi, who is an advocate and served as the bank’s Company Secretary, was set to replace David Thuku, who resigned from the helm of the lender in September 2018.

At the time, Family Bank had said, “Rebecca is a highly experienced professional with an extensive background in leadership in various organisations at director level specializing in law, project finance, Corporate Restructuring, Equity/ Debt raising and Governance.”

The statement from Dr. Kiboro had continued, “At Family Bank, she has been instrumental in Strategy and Business Development, Capital and Debt Raising, Risk Management, Compliance and Controls, providing legal services and strengthening the Bank’s Governance structures.”

Appointment of Mbithi was subject to approval by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Family Bank had indicated.