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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Standard Bank Group said its first quarter attributable earnings rose by 37.8%, helped by higher interest rates and growth in transactional volumes.
Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender by assets, said higher average interest rates and a larger balance sheet supported the group’s net interest margin and net interest income growth – the main growth metric for banks – in the period. Attributable earnings in January-March totalled 10.2 billion rand ($563.98 million), it said.
“Continued growth in transactional volumes, as well as the impact of annual price increases across the continent, supported fee growth,” the bank said, adding that trading revenue was higher than a year earlier and ahead of expectations.
The lender said it was well capitalised but acknowledged broader risks to the business environment.
“We continue to monitor the impacts of potentially higher inflation for longer and hence higher interest rates, electricity supply constraints in South Africa, global geopolitical tensions, and banking sector vulnerabilities; all of which pose risks to our outlook. In line with previous guidance, we remain committed to delivering positive jaws and an improving return on equity in 2023,” the bank said in its statement.
Standard Bank said credit impairment charges in the three months ended March 31 were higher than a year earlier, as the bank’s customers grappled with the rising cost of living and corporate and sovereign risk migration.
($1 = 18.0856 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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