Stanbic maintains top position

Source: Stanbic maintains top position – DailyNews Live

BUSINESS WRITER      9 June 2017

HARARE – Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe has been selected as the second Best Bank
in Zimbabwe for Financial Year 2016 in the Top Companies survey which is
aimed at promoting best practices among local companies in the country.

Stanbic was previously awarded Best Bank for two years in a row.

The survey, sponsored by leading diversified financial services giant Old
Mutual, is in its fourth consecutive year and seeks to recognise top
performing companies on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and others
within the banking and insurance sectors.

A panel of reputable financial services gurus sieved through qualitative
and quantitative attributes of Zimbabwe’s leading banks leading to this
reward for Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe for showing consistency despite the
challenging operating environment.

At the core of the survey is the quest to promote good corporate
governance practices, ethical conduct and corporate social responsibility
(CSR).

The bank’s CSR focuses mainly on Health and Sanitation, Sports
Development, Education and Nature Conservation.

The judges noted with appreciation that Stanbic Bank was very active in
the local community, a key attribute that has led to the bank’s continued
success in Zimbabwe.

The bank had a strong 2016 financial year, overcoming the skewed operating
environment to post profit after tax of $21,2 million, albeit a marginal
decline from $23,9 million in 2015.

The decline was attributed to a larger than prior year impairment
provision for non-performing loans of $8,3 million in 2016 as compared to
$6,8 million in the prior comparable period.

This translated to a decline in return on capital and return on total
assets from 25,7 percent and 5,9 percent respectively, in 2015 to 18,34
percent and 4,355 respectively in 2016.

The judges noted that despite the marginal decline, Stanbic’s level of
profitability ranks high in comparison to other financial services
institution and this was deemed “a notable achievement”.

Stanbic Bank’s winning qualities were underpinned not only on its strong
financial performance but also anchored on its core values of serving its
customers, growing its people, delivering to its shareholders, being
proactive, working in teams, respecting each other, upholding the highest
levels of integrity and consistently raising the bar.

“Stanbic’ Tier 1 capital increased from $80,2 million in 2015 to $101,8
million in 2016, while its overall regulatory capital base increased from
$93 million in 2015 to $115 million in 2016. The bank has therefore
achieved the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s minimum regulatory capital
level of $100 million which has a deadline of the year 2020,” noted the
judges.

“Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe remains a solid bank in Zimbabwe and we believe it
has a great future ahead. From our assessment, Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe is a
truly worthy First Runner-Up of this year’s Top Companies Banking Sector
award,” said one of the analysts.