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| Exim Bank Acting Chief Executive Officer, Selemani Ponda (centre) addresses the media on the bank’s 2017 financial position and results. Looking on the are the Bank's Acting Chief Operations Officer, David Lusala and Acting Chief Finance Officer, Issa Hamisi. |
The Bank’s 100% owned subsidiaries in Djibouti and Comoros operations recorded superlative performance with the best ever profits. Exim Bank is now ranked fourth & second in these respective territories.
Performance of the Bank’s Tanzania operations was stable on the top line; however, the bottom line was impacted due to higher provisioning on the impaired assets. The bank, with a step towards its preparedness to the newly introduced norms of accounting effective from January 2018 viz. IFRS9 had made higher provisions to the tune of TZS 29 Billion during the year 2017 as compared to TZS 2 Billion during the previous year (2016).
The bank also wrote off impaired assets worth TZS 3.35 Billion, in compliance to the regulatory guidelines.
The Bank’s operating profits stood at TZS 39 Billion. With increased provisions, the bank Profit before tax was lower at TZS 9.6 Billion.
It is important to note that the bank had extraordinary gains to the tune of TZS 46 Billion in the year 2016 due to (one off) sale of its equity stake in one of the local entities in the Country.
The bank has further planned to write off a major chunk of its impaired assets during Q1/18 in compliance to the newly introduced guidance from the central bank. This will help reduction in bank’s impaired assets portfolio from 14.63% to 8.95% as at end of March 2018. The Bank Acting Group CEO reaffirmed the Bank’s endeavor to continuous improving the quality of loan portfolio to the target of below 5% by December 2018.
The Group recorded a 7% growth in Net interest income to TZS 97 Billion, driven by earning asset book growth, better yields and contained cost of funds despite increasing non-performing asset book which was subsequently written-off.
Non-funded income; foreign exchange income as well as fees and commission income recorded reasonably annual growth of 24% and 12% to TZS 12 Billion and 37 Billion respectively driven by increased volumes of transactions in all of channels. “Thanks to guaranteed turnaround time and good service delivery across our networks”, Acting Group CEO said.
Group’s total shareholders’ fund maintained @TZS 231 Billion as at Dec 2017 while core capital improved to TZS 162 Billion (2016: TZS 156 Billion) which is far more than 10 times required level for the bank without foreign subsidiaries while the capital adequacy ratios as at 31stDecember 2017, Tier I and Tier II ratios were at 17.34% and 19.32%, well above the minimum regulatory requirement of 12.5% and 14.5% respectively.
Exim Group, one of the largest indigenous banks in the country, has been making sustained investments in technology for the last 3 years. The Bank has seen these investments starting to pay off. The bank has been able to make a niche in the Corporate and SME sector having introduced its Cash Management Solution during the year. Bank’s exclusive ‘Cash Deposit Machines’ on/off site and handy Cheque scanners are considered as the favorites amongst Corporates for their ease of use, accuracy, speed & safety of transactions.
Djibouti and Comoros recorded a robust performance during the year with net profit (before management fees) @TZS 4.8 Billion and TZS 6.5 Billion respectively during the year. The profits were driven by well-diversified sources of income – interest income and non-funded income streams – FX trading and transaction banking and commissions on fund transfers. Return on equity to these two subsidiaries were far above the normal returns @50% and 40% for Djibouti and Comoros respectively.
The Group audited financials indicate that net loans and advances were up by 9% from TZS 838 Billion to TZS 912 Billion during 2017; loan portfolio is fairly diversified across sectors, reflecting the variety of the Tanzanian economy and its buoyant private sector.
The loans and advances were largely financed by customer deposits with focus on low costs sourcing, driven by cash management solutions we provide to our customers range from digital products which include internet banking, cash scanning, cash deposit machines, etc. to door-to-door cash pickups. The customer deposit based recorded a reasonable growth of 7% above a Trillion mark @TZS 1.2 Trillion.
“There was growth posted by the Bank’s Group, in all parameters viz. Core capital, Assets, Deposits, Loan Book and operating income”,stated Mr. Ponda, the Group Acting CEO at the press conference held at Bank’s Head Quarters, Exim Tower Dar es Salaam.
Resulting out of bank’s core focus on technology and digitization, the Bank has recently rolled out its very distinctive ‘Omni Channel Electronic Banking’ offering for its Retail, SME & Corporate Customers. A unique omni experience, agnostic to any electronic device. A sound, safe and differentiated experience to the customers.
Partnering TANAPA, the bank has been a pioneer in introducing automated collections at its coveted national parks. Not only that the bank has now been providing automated collections at all the national parks of TANAPA across the country but has also now enabled on-line generation of permits and collection of fees. The service so rolled out by the bank has been very well received across the entire fraternity of the tour operators, besides accolades from the Agency itself.
The Bank has a peculiar knack of keeping customer at the centre, always, while crafting and offering its products, services and channels of delivery, be it a distinctive experience at the branch or the most advanced digital banking & payment solutions viz. Credit, Debit & Prepaid Cards (TANAPA, Salary & Travel cards etc.). The Bank also boasts of being one of the very few banks offering Foreign currency denominated Debit cards.
In line with Exim Group’s mantra, Exim at work, today for tomorrow,the Bank has continued to pursue innovative ways to serve the needs of our target segments; Corporates, SME’s and Preferred Banking clients and in turn continues become the bank of choice.
In 2017, the Bank further expanded its presence as part of its strategy to grow its distribution footprint at locations that brings it closer to its customers, while offering a refreshing banking experience. The Bank now has 46 branches across its network; 33 in Tanzania, 6 in Comoros, 2 in Djibouti and 5 in Uganda. In addition to its branches, the Bank has 78 ATMs, 7 MoneyGram counters and 3 Teller Implants across the Group.
The bank has been celebrating its 20 years of establishment since August 2017. As a gesture of expressing its gratitude to its patrons & the society, the Bank has embarked upon a CSR initiative of hospital equipment-based donation across the group. Starting August’17, the bank has so far donated 370 beds & mattresses to 9 hospitals across the Country. The bank shall be continuing this initiative for full one-year until July 2018.
The Bank has up in its sleeves several digital-based products lined up for roll out during the year 2018aiming to improve the customer experience.
About EXIM Bank:
EXIM Bank (Tanzania) Limited was established in 1997 and expanded its market by opening subsidiaries in Comoros (2007), Djibouti (2010) and Uganda (2016); holds pride in being the first local bank to go offshore. Its core objective is to create investment value to its shareholders and achieve the growth through delivery of differentiated & customized services. The Bank is well known to provide a distinctive experience by serving customers with efficiency and a touch of class.
Within a short span of 20 years of its existence, the bank has built a strong brand through its geographical reach, innovative products, relationship management and its ability to provide a faster turnaround in services and in the process building a strong loyal customers base.
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