By Alois Vinga
LISTED financial services provider, NMB Bank Limited has expressed optimism on the economy’s recovery prospects going into the year after recording a total ZWL87,1 billion deposits in the year’s first quarter.
Presenting the group’s financial performance for the year’s first quarter, NMB Bank group company secretary, Violet Mutandwa expressed optimism on the possibility of good prospects going forward.
“Despite the economic challenges emanating from the erratic power supply that cause disruptions to the production cycles in the manufacturing and mining sectors, the economy continues to show signs of strength and recovery,” she said .
She said the expected recovery will be underpinned by a good agricultural season and on-going infrastructure projects and booming tourism.
During the period, the group generated operating income of ZWL 15,9 billion for the quarter ended 31 March 2023, signifying a 613,63% increase from the ZWL 2 billion recorded for the same period in prior year.
The strong performance is largely driven by increased transaction volumes, increased income generating projects and modest loan book growth.
Total assets grew by 32.66% from 31 December 2022 to 31 March 2023 funded by increase in credit lines and customer deposits.
“The Bank has witnessed customer deposits grow by 63.7% from ZWL 53.2 billion as at 31 December 2022 to ZWL 87,1 billion as at 31 March 2023.
“While the Bank has realised an increase in business volumes and transactions, the growth is also reflective of the impact of the exchange rate on USD deposits,” said Mutandwa.
NMB Bank received regulatory approval to set up a property subsidiary, NMB Properties Limited, which was launched on the 6th of May 2023 which will enable it to make inroads into the property sector making use of its land and property portfolio to create real value for shareholders.
The Bank continued to practice prudent lending focusing on quality assets, which has kept the NPL ratio at low levels of 1.43%.
The group and the Bank (regulated subsidiary) are well capitalised and the directors continue to ensure that the capital levels remain adequate as prescribed and in line with the business requirements.
Capital adequacy ratio as at 31 March 2023 stood at 22.64% compared to a regulatory minimum of 12%.
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