The Co-operative Bank of Kenya increased its profit by 59% in 2021.
The bank reported a Kshs 22.6bn (£150m) profit before tax last year, up from Kshs 14.3bn (£95m) in 2020. Meanwhile, its post-tax profit was Kshs 16.5bn (£109m) in 2021 compared to Kshs 10.8bn (£71m) in 2020.
The value of the bank’s assets also increased by 8% to Kshs 579.8 bn (£3.85bn) in 2021 while its total operating income grew by 12% to Kshs 60.4 bn (£401m). The bank served over nine million account holders in 2021.
Other 2021 highlights included moving 94% of all customer transactions to alternative delivery channels including Internet, mobile banking and e-wallets, and expanding its 24-hour contact centre. Since 2018 the bank has also been offering packages for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs). Over 144,000 customers have taken up the MSME packages since 2018 and 19,963 have been trained on business management skills. Since launching its ECredit solution, the bank has disbursed Kshs 42.5bn (£282m) to MSMEs.
Meanwhile the bank’s Foundation provided over 650 scholarships in 2021, which included fully paid secondary education, tuition fees for university education and internships.
Group managing director and CEO Dr Gideon Muriuki said: “The Co-operative Bank Group continues to execute a proactive growth strategy anchored on a strong enterprise risk management framework, and deepening of our market dominance. We shall, riding on the unique synergies in the over 15 million-member co-operative movement that is the largest in Africa, continue to pursue strategic initiatives that focus on resilience and growth in the various sectors of the economy.”
Dr Muriuki received the Best Bank CEO in Africa Award at 2021 EMEA Awards, where the bank was praised for sustaining the same level of dividend payments to shareholders despite the Covid-19 crisis.
