FNBB profits fall on industry headwinds

Despite a six percent growth of the loan book in the period, FNBB’s interest income took a two percent knock, as the cost of sourcing new funds remained high reflected by a 20 percent rise in interest expenses.

“Given the pressures on the economy, the bank continued to be prudent in its lending, but still achieved growth in advances of six percent on the prior year. This growth emanated mainly from group schemes, where deductions are from source, and from both home loans and WesBank where each loan is secured by the asset. “Despite the difficult economic conditions, and assisted by both priority focus on collection strategies and selective lending practices, growth in impairments was confined to 10 percent. “Non-interest income increased by 11 percent, reflecting the bank’s success in increasing transactional volumes through cross selling to its customer base, and by increasing the numbers of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Advance Deposit Taking Machines (ADTs) and clients using Online Banking,” said CEO, Steven Bogatsu.