BoA cuts lending, saves on cost to double earnings

Tighter lending and cutting on interest-earning deposits has helped Bank of Africa (BoA) double its net profit for the six months to June from Sh55 million to Sh114 million.

The lender cut loans from Sh23.5 billion to Sh20.9 billion, reducing bad loans by Sh1.8 billion. As a result, it cut loan loss provisioning from Sh349 million to Sh261 million. As such income from interest on loans declined from Sh1.5 billion to Sh1.1 billion in the period under review.

Income came from trading forex at Sh461 million for the half-year to June from Sh198 million in a similar period last year as the lender diversified incomes away from loans.

While customers deposits reduced from Sh30.7 billion to Sh30.3 billion interest paid on deposits fell from Sh850 million to Sh611 million. Staff costs also fell by Sh42 million although rental costs jumped from Sh97 million in June last year to Sh133 million in the first half of 2019.