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Conrad Mwanawashe Business Reporter
MBCA bank has reported a 19 percent decrease in after tax profit at $4,045 million which it attributed to the increase in operational expenses although the financial institution remains profitable.
After tax profit retreated from $4,965 million in 2012 to $4,045 million last year representing a 19 percent decrease as expenses grew by 14 percent to $17.064 million last year from $14,972 in 2012.
The bank said its performance over the last year reflected the effects of a challenging environment and the cost of the deposit protection premiums.
Retail banking was the bank’s star performer contributing 43 percent towards total operating income last year up from 39 percent in 2012 as a focus on account recruitment to increase non-interest revenue generation capacity as well as growth in deposits through expansion of the network in line with growth sectors paid off.
Corporate banking contributed 38 percent of total operating income for the bank during the year ended December 31 down from 45 percent the previous year.
“The bank continues to enjoy the group’s support in terms of a $75 million off balance sheet line of credit and $50 million from Afreximbank’s lines of credit for commodities.
These facilities, together with own resources enabled the bank to provide much needed working capital support to clients.
“The division’s performance continued to be biased towards agriculture, mining and retail sectors, with inroads having been made to provide services to new players in these sectors,” the bank said.
Money market activities were subdued in 2013 due to the continued absence of the Lender of Last Resort facilities, limited access to regional and international credit lines and lack of tradable assets.
The division contributed 19 percent of the bank’s total operating income up from 16 percent contributed in 2012.
MBCA lamented the unavailability of foreign credit lines to finance Zimbabwe’s medium to long term requirements which hampered the advisory unit’s performance.
The financial institution said that it is at an advanced stage to improve availability of medium term funding to support capital expenditure by performing entities in the market.
Online Reporter