Non-interest income has been a star performer for FNBB over the years, as the bank has reaped the dividends of its heavy investment in fintech innovation.
In the six months to December 2022, FNBB’s non-interest income grew by five percent to P757.3 million.
Presenting the bank’s latest financials on Tuesday, CEO Steven Bogatsu said FNBB has and will continue to cancel some charges to make their services more convenient for their clients.
“This was a strategic decision to encourage our clients to take the digital route and reduce the physical visits to the branches,” he said.
The services now provided for free include prepaid electricity purchases, cellphone statements, cash at till wallet withdrawal, internal debit orders, ewallet withdrawal, and usage of the FNBB app.
“The ank observed some sustained margin volatility and compression on the forex line, while at the same time, certain service fees were either materially reduced or scrapped altogether,” the bank’s directors said. In making some of its services free, FNBB was helped by a growth in its customer volumes, which rose five percent to 679,000 during the six months to December 2023.
“All other major non-interest Revenue lines continued on a double-digit growth trajectory, driven by increasing transaction volumes, the number of accounts, and growth in the customer base,” directors s.
The bank’s balance sheet grew 15% year-on-year to P32.3 billion boosted by growth in gross customer advances across critical operating segments. The retail segment grew by seven percent driven by solid growth in the personal lending portfolio (secured and non-secured) following “client value proposition enhancements” on scheme lending and a refresh of the WesBank product offering.
The Corporate Segment concluded key deals which saw a 14% growth in gross advances, with sectors like Agriculture, Retail Sector, and Tourism, among others benefiting from this growth.
The Corporate Segment customer advances increased 24% year on year, following a 14% growth during the same period of the prior financial year.
“This growth came mainly from financial solutions extended to the financial services sector including leverage finance, property sector and certain key State-Owned Enterprises,” the bank’s directors said.
The bank’s pretax profits for the half-year reached P891 million, reflecting a 28% growth.
