First Capital Bank Limited Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of FMBcapital Holdings Plc (FMBCH), has today released their half-year results for 2021. The results demonstrate the strength of the Bank’s strategy and operating model, which have enabled us to deal effectively with the combined challenges of the COVID pandemic and challenging macroeconomic conditions.
The Bank’s operating profit(profit before tax excluding investment property and joint venture fair valuations) for the 2021 half year is ZWL669m compared to ZWL97m in 2020 in inflation adjusted terms. In historic reporting terms the operating profit is ZWL935m compared to ZWL122m in 2020.This demonstrates progress on the execution of our Corporate-led growth strategy underpinned by stable digital platforms, as evidenced in the growth of deposits by 11% to 9.8bn and loans by 89% to 4.4bn.
In the period under review First Capital Bank maintained a quality loan book with a loan loss ratio of 0.6%, NPL ratio of 0.14% with market average at 0.3%. Impairment coverage was at 1.8%. The strong operating profit performance was as a result of loan book growth and increased transactional volumes.
The Bank has achieved the minimum capital requirement of USD30m as required by 31 December 2021, allowing the payment of a dividend for the period.
Mr Ciaran McSharry, First Capital Bank Limited, Managing Director said, ‘Whilst the COVID pandemic may have posed as an obstacle at first, we chose to view it as an opportunity to accelerate our digital transformation programme by developing key service enhancements that would improve our customer experience. This enabled us to continue to proffer relevant, quality banking solutions to our customers and clients when it mattered the most.’ This has seen the bank maintain stable and scalable IT platforms that are characterised by new products like Infinipay, WhatsApp banking, Reverse billing among others in anticipation of the increased use of electronic channels in the current environment.
‘The bank continues to play a key role by funding productive sectors with direct support to the tourism sector. We continue to innovate our product offering ensuring that these improvements allow our customers to achieve their extraordinary whilst we strengthen our balance sheet and improve our cost structure’, Mr Taitos Mukuku, Chief Finance Officer said.
First Capital Bank Limited is proud of the steady progress they have attained and are confident of the future as they build from a sound capital base. Their unique strength comes from a diverse, dedicated, and knowledgeable workforce that live up to their brand promise of service excellence and is ready to serve.
