Standard Bank reports double-digit interest growth

SOUTH Africa’s largest lender Standard Bank reports that income earned from interest resulted in double- digit growth during the 10 months to end- October 2022, with the bank citing high- interest rates in most of the markets it operates in, and balance sheet growth as the main drivers.

“FY22 total income growth and cost growth are expected to be higher than guided in August 2022. Th is is driven principally by faster- than- expected increases in interest rates and higher infl ation. However, we do expect continued positive jaws,” Standard Bank told shareholders in a trading update on Monday. This year many economies around the world moved to tighten monetary policy, with central banks aggressively hiking interest rates to fi ght off rocketing infl ation.

In the local market, the Reserve Bank has lifted the repurchase rate by a cumulative 325 basis points to 7 percent, from 3.75 percent at the beginning of 2022. By mid- year, infl ation had peaked at 7.8 percent and slowed slightly to 7.6% in October. Angola and Zambia were the only markets in which the bank operates where interest rates were not raised. Angola saw interest rates decrease by 50 basis points, while in Zambia they remained fl at.

“Non- i nterest revenue growth remained robust, supported by growth in transactional activity, trading revenue, and insurance earnings,” said Standard Bank.

Earnings growth in its insurance business was helped by higher fees from annual fee increments and its funeral policy programme performed well, while it had lower credit life claims compared with the prior period.—