The lender posted headline earnings of R42.9bn for the year ended December 31.
Africa’s biggest lender by assets Standard Bank said on Thursday its annual profit jumped by 27% as high interest rates helped offset rising bad loans. The lender posted headline earnings of R42.9 billion for the year ended December 31, while total net income grew by 20% to R177.6 billion, driven by net interest income growth of 25% and non-interest revenue growth of 13%.
But inflationary pressures, high interest rates, regular power blackouts and logistical bottlenecks are taking a toll on their most sensitive retail and small business customers, leading to defaults. Standard Bank said credit impairment charges increased by 22% to R16.3 billion, which pushed the lender’s credit loss ratio- a measure of bad loans as a percentage of total loans- up to 98 basis points from 83 bps and close to the upper range of its target of 100 bps.