Nedbank Zimbabwe doubles size of loan book

PHILLIMON MHLANGA

 

Nedbank Zimbabwe’s loan book has grown significantly in the first six months of this year, primarily as a result of  the US dollar book’s support of key productive sectors, especially  exporters, Business Times can report.

 

Speaking during a virtual media briefing on Tuesday, Nedbank Zimbabwe’s managing director, Sibongile Moyo, said that the bank was able to continue lending because of the existing legal provisions.

 

“Our loan book doubled from June 2023, that is over a 100% increase, where there was a bit of a low base and then from December. We’ve since increased it again by 26% up to June 2024. And, of course, it’s predominantly a US dollar-denominated loan book,” Moyo said.

She added: “The legal provisions currently in place are enabling us to continue lending and collecting loan repayments as well as transactions in US dollars.”

Moyo said the bank was still waiting permission from the  Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to release its financial results.

 

But she hinted that the bank had delivered good performance in the first six months of this year.

“On the bottom line definitely positive. All that we have done is that we have taken out the noise that is created by hyperinflation accounting, which as you know made it difficult for many to understand the numbers, with even valuation gains, with net monetary losses, all of that as a result of the type of accounting  and technology that we were using.

 

Now all that noise is removed and we still performed well and still able to declare a significant dividend although we are still awaiting our board to sign off the interim results.”

 

Moyo said the banks’ net non-performing loans ratio was low at 0,38%, reflecting the prudent management of the bank’s credit book.

 

According to Dr Terence Sibiya, the group managing executive of Nedbank Africa Regions, Nedbank Zimbabwe contributed about 9.2% to the group’s bottom line.

 

Commenting on the group’s financials, Dr Sibiya said Nedbank Group produced a relatively strong financial performance, with headline earnings (HE) increasing by 8% year-on-year to R7,9bn, underpinned by good non-interest revenue growth, a lower impairment charge, and tight cost control.

He said the group’s return on equity (ROE) improved to 15% from 14,2% in the prior period.

The group’s diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased by 12%, which was quite a decent performance.

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