KAMPALA – Centenary Bank, the second-largest commercial bank in Uganda recorded 18% growth in net profit, from UGX211.5 billion in 2021 to UGX249.6 billion in 2022 in its just-released 2022 results.
The bank also registered a 11.4% increment in total income from UGX 864 billion in 2021 to UGX 962 billion in 2022.
The bank attributed its income growth to increased interest income, fees and commissions where customer lending grew by 23.4% from UGX2.25 trillion to UGX2.82 trillion, a growth of UGX 5694 billion.
Mr. Fabian Kas, the bank’s Managing Director explained that the ratio of Non-Performing Loans (NPL) moved to 3.40% in 2022, compared to 5.16% in 2021.
“This was due to the Government’s decision to fully open the economy in quarter one of 2022 jump-started most of the economic activities which were previously affected by COVID-19 and improvement in closer loan monitoring methods by our credit field staff.”
The lending was buttressed by a 22.7% growth in customer deposits from UGX3 18 trillion to UGX39 million- a growth of UGX7227 billion
The increase in deposits was largely due to increased investment in technology like mobile banking and agent banking platforms that conveniently serve customers, Fabian further says
He adds Financial inclusion is at the heart of what we do at Centenary Bank We improved the accessibility and usability of our services through enhancing our digital offerings. Uptake of the digital channels improved, we saw agent banking contribute 42.76% of transactions, mobile banking contributed 19 96%, the ATMs contributed 22.00% and the banking hall was down to 13.80% We continue to encourage customers to use digital channels for convenience
He said the bank in 2022 increased the number of agents by 37.9% from 4,446 in 2021 to 6,132 in 2022, Cente-mobile users by 247% from 826201 in 2021 to 1,030,628 in 2022, and internet banking users by 15% from 5,268 in 2021 to 5,358 in 2022
The number of Cente-On-The-Go and Cente Xpress customers increased by 131.1% from 106,379 accounts in 2021 to 245,856 accounts in 2022.
The significant growth in deposits and subsequently, lending and investment, according to Fabian, led the bank’s total assets to grow by 20.3% from UGX476 trillion to UGX5 72 trillion- a growth of 963.8 billion mainly due to the significant increase in customer deposits
Fabian, attributed the double-digit growth across all key fundamentals to “dedicated and productive staff who implemented the bank strategy, customers’ patronage, heavy investments in modern technology, innovations, new products and services, good governance practices by our Board members and senior management team, our partners, and all other stakeholders
2022 is yet another good year for Fabian who assumed the bank’s leadership in August 2010 and has led it through some of the best times in its 40-year history During Fabian’s time, customer deposits have grown 6-fold or 619% from UGX6308 billion in 2010 to UGX390 trillion- a CAGR of 164% Lending has grown 7-fold (7112%) from UGX3958 billion to UGX2 82 trillion- a CAGR of 17.8%, while income has grown 5-fold (509%), from UGX1891 billion to UGX9623 billion- a CAGR of 145% Net profit has grown more than 8-fold (849%), from UGX294 billion to UGX249 6 billion- a CAGR of 195% Assets have grown 7-fold (177%) from UGX8072 billion to UGX5 72 trillion
Fabian said that the bank will, moving forward continue investing in technology, people and infrastructure
“Over the next five years, we hope all our partners get a sense of the excitement we have for the future This is truly the story of a bank where God Leads the Way We are working towards becoming a SMART bank by 2026, with a series of technology-led solutions, that drive efficiency, process automation, convenience, customer centricity, sustainability, learning and growth, he concluded.
