EXIM BANK TANZANIA'S PROFIT SOARS BY 69%

Exim Bank Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Mr Selemani Ponda (centre) addresses a press conference to announce the bank’s financial performance for the second quarter of the 2015 financial year in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The bank’s profit soared by 69 per cent Quarter on Quarter (QoQ) growth. Looking on is the bank’s Deputy Chief Finance Officer Mr Issa Hamisi (1st left) and the bank’s Senior Manager Research and Business Analysis Mr Joseph Mrawa(1st right).

Exim Bank Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Mr Selemani Ponda (1st right) addresses a press conference to announce the bank’s financial performance for the second quarter of the 2015 financial year. The bank’s profit soared by 69 per cent Quarter on Quarter (QoQ) growth. Looking on is the bank’s Deputy Chief Finance Officer Mr Issa Hamisi (centre) and the bank’s Chief Internal Auditor Mr George Binde (1st left).

Dar es Salaam, August 24, 2015 - EXIM Bank posted a pretax profit of TZS 12.79 Billion for the Quarter ended Jun 2015 as compared to TZS 7.56 Billion the previous quarter, depicting a 69% Quarter on Quarter (QoQ) growth.

“We are pleased to report good results for the second quarter of the 2015 financial year,” said Selemani Ponda, the Exim Bank Chief Finance Officer (CFO), speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam.

The pre-tax profit for the cumulative period ended June 2015 was TZS 17.87 Billion, (28%) higher than TZS 13.96 Billion for the corresponding period in the previous year.

The Net Interest income grew by 26 percent to TZS 17.9 Billion from TZS 14.26 Billion during the second quarter of 2015. The growth was largely driven by low cost deposits and effective management of funds.

Further, Non Interest Income during the quarter increased by 43 percent to TZS 12.3 Billion from TZS 8.6 Billion recorded in the previous year. The growth was led by higher Foreign exchange margins and supported by other fee income backed by efficient delivery to its Corporate and SME business segments. The bank also had dividend income from equity investments to the tune of TZS 2.3 Billion compared to TZS 2 Billion recorded in the corresponding period last year.

“As the result of improved income streams, the cost–to-income ratio for the quarter improved impressively to 58 % from 62 % as compared to corresponding period last year” he added.

Aggressive recovery measures and an effective early warning mechanism saw bank’s Gross NPA ratio remaining at 5.9 per cent, well below the industry average of 7.8 per cent. The CFO further explained that the bank expects to bring it down to below 4% by the end of the year, through aggressive recovery efforts and also making sure the existing book is well managed.

Return on equity (ROE) stood at18.49 % as compared to 12.02 % recorded for corresponding period last year.

“Strong revenue growth reflects the success of the Bank’s highly diversified income streams. We continue to improve upon operational efficiency to optimize our customers’ satisfaction. Our Bank continues to move in the right direction. We’re mid-way in the process of fulfilling our three years strategic plan. Our Q2/2015 results show that we have consistently shown an excellent performance,” he added.

The CFO further said: “The bank has embarked upon a very meticulously planned transformation drive focusing on further strengthening its foundation by investing into ‘People’, ‘Processes’ and ‘Technology’. The bank has been making a sound tangible progress. Such measures of the bank are reflective on higher operational costs, which are more seen as investment into future”,

The bank had successfully migrated to new ‘Chip & PIN’ EMV FAIDA debit cards, from the erstwhile ‘magstripe’ cards towards enhanced safety on usage by its customers.

Mr. Ponda further explained that in order to diversify its funding sources, the Bank added another feather in its cap by initiating a relationship with the coveted KFW-DEG having signed and obtained a senior loan for USD 10 Million as the 1st tranche out of a total borrowing of USD 20 Million. The CFO further stated that the Bank has had strong relations with other leading International Development financing institutions (DFIs) such as IFC, PROPARCO, NORFUND and FMO for more than a decade now and having signed a loan agreement with DEG asserts the confidence of those International DFIs on this ‘largest Local Tanzanian bank’.