Barclays Bank of Kenya reported a 1.9 per cent rise in net profit to Sh5.4 billion for the first nine months ended September, the weakest earnings growth among its first-tier rivals.
The results were published on 21 November 2018. They showed that the lender, which had recently separated from its former parent, UK-based Barclays Plc, grew total interest income by 7.6 per cent to Sh21.6 billion.
Management’s cost-cutting drive helped reduce staff costs by 7.9 per cent to Sh7.5 billion. That followed redundancies carried out in the previous financial year, which also led to the closure of 12 branches.
By the end of the period, the bank had 89 outlets, most of them in Nairobi. Its workforce stood at 2,268 employees, down from 2,591 in 2016.
Operating expenses climbed 8.3 per cent to Sh16.13 billion, outpacing the 5.5 per cent increase in operating income to Sh23.85 billion.
Customer deposits increased 10 per cent to Sh220 billion, with transactional accounts accounting for 66 per cent of the total. Barclays said the growth was partly linked to new products introduced by the bank.
The lender also expanded its Enterprise Supply Development fund to Sh500 million after a pilot programme that ran for more than a year. The facility is meant to finance SMEs that supply goods and services to corporate firms on the basis of valid contracts.
Its peers posted stronger third-quarter performances. Co-operative Bank reported a 8 per cent rise in quarter three net profit to Sh10.3 billion, while Equity Bank’s nine-month profit increased 8.1 per cent to Sh15.8 billion. KCB, meanwhile, recorded a 19.6 per cent jump to Sh18 billion for the same period.
2016 is preserved in the workforce comparison, where Barclays said it had 2,591 employees that year before the later reduction to 2,268.
