Societe Generale to sell Burkina and Mozambique units
File photo: Standard Bank
Profits at Standard Bank, one of Mozambique’s three largest banks, increased by 7.8% in 2023 to a ‘record’ 7.378 billion meticais (€107.5 million), according to the report and accounts consulted by Lusa on Friday.
‘This year’s financial performance demonstrates the effectiveness of our strategy and the resilience of our business. Despite adversity, our total revenue grew by 5%, from 18.274 billion meticais [€266.3 million] in 2022 to 19.123 billion meticais [€278.7 million],’ reads the message from Standard Bank’s managing director, Bernardo Aparício, in the document.
He described the results as ‘remarkable’, especially considering that the bank’s ‘proportion of interest-bearing assets’ in total assets ‘fell sharply’ last year, from 84% to 68%, ‘following the adjustment of the mandatory reserves coefficient’, which was increased in 2023 by the central bank’s decision.
‘Our balance sheet remains strong and very liquid. Given the restrictive monetary policy last year, the sector as a whole experienced weak asset growth. In this context, we continued to focus on asset quality,’ said Bernardo Aparício.
Standard Bank Moçambique ended 2023 with 1,364 employees, up 9% on the previous year.
The bank’s net loan portfolio, owned by the same South African group, fell by 15.8% in 2023, namely due to the ‘repayment’ of loans from some ‘large corporate clients’, the report explains.
‘During the year, we made concerted efforts to reform loans in difficulty and to recover those that could not be restructured. These efforts produced remarkable results, with non-performing loans falling from 2.611 billion meticais [€38 million] in 2022 to 2.581 billion meticais [€37.6 million] in 2023,’ the document reads.
On 8 March, the board of directors of Standard Bank Moçambique proposed the distribution of dividends to shareholders in the amount of 6.271 billion meticais [€91.4 million] for the 2023 financial year.
The bank also highlights in the report and accounts that return on equity grew by 20.6% in 2022 to 21.1% last year, ‘as a result of greater efficiency’, and net interest income rose from 8.8% to 9.8%, but with the transformation rate falling from 36.5% to 32.5%.
The bank’s total volume of loans and advances to customers fell in 2023 to 34.361 billion meticais (€501 million).
Standard Bank ended 2023 with total assets that increased to 158.937 billion meticais (€2.317 billion), while equity rose to 35.808 billion meticais (€522 million) and liabilities grew to 123.129 billion meticais (€1.795 billion).
Standard Bank Moçambique is a private bank established in 1967, with its head office in Maputo but whose activity in the country dates back to 1894. Its parent company and majority shareholder is Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited, an investment bank incorporated in the United Kingdom that holds a stake equivalent to 98.15% of the share capital.
Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited is wholly owned by Standard Bank Group, an investment bank incorporated in South Africa. The remaining 1.85% of the Mozambique branch’s capital is held by minority shareholders.
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