Co-operative Bank of Kenya has been ranked as the third most attractive bank out of 38 commercial banks operating in the country.
Cytonn 2019 Banking Sector Report showed the bank’s asset quality improved, with the NPL ratio reducing marginally to 11.2% in FY’2019, from 11.3% in FY’2018 owing to faster growth in gross loans by 9.1% outpacing the 7.5% growth in gross non-performing loans.
“This is attributed to the implementation of credit management strategies implemented since the beginning of the year,” the report, themed “Increased Consolidation in the Banking Sector” said.
The bank’s balance sheet recorded an expansion as total assets grew by 10.5 per cent to Sh457.0 billion, from Sh413.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2018.
“Profit before tax increased by 14.0% to Sh20.7 billion, up from Sh18.2 billion in Fiscal Year 2018. Profit after tax grew by 12.4 per cent to Sh14.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2019, from Sh12.7 billion in Fiscal Year 2018 with the effective tax rate declining to 31.6 per cent from 32.7 per cent in Fiscal Year 2018.
“Business model restructuring, the banks’ has continued implementation of “Soaring Eagle” transformation initiatives is expected to drive growth and increase efficiency.
“The initiatives are set on the following eight key pillars; branch transformation, MSME transformation, sales force effectiveness, shared services and digitization, NPL management and credit processes, cost management, data analytics, and staff productivity.
We expect the initiatives to culminate into improved revenue levels,” the report said.