Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has announced a 25 per cent growth in net profit for the year ended December 31, 2021 due to enhanced interest income earnings.
The bank reported a Sh4.4 billion profit for the year under review. This is up from Sh3.5 billion it posted in a similar period the previous year.
Interest income went up from Sh31 billion in 2020 to Sh33.9 billion in 2021.
The Group’s asset base clocked Sh456.8 billion, growing by seven per cent in 2021 from Sh425 previous year.
The contribution of DTB’s subsidiaries to the overall results of the Group continues to grow, with the banking subsidiaries in Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi making up 30 per cent of the group’s assets and profitability.
Following the improved performance, DTB has announced a resumption in dividend payments.
Following this improved performance, DTB announced a resumption in dividend payments, the Board proposed a dividend of Sh839 million or Sh3.00 per share.
DTB Chairman Linus Gitahi said the Board continues to strike an equitable balance between rewarding shareholders and conserving capital to fund the Bank’s investment and expansion plans.
“We anticipate that the dividend pay-outs will progressively increase in the years ahead as we continue to realise our aspirations to pivot DTB as a customer-centric,top-tier digitally-driven Bank in East Africa,” Gitahi said.
The bank's customer deposits closed at a record Sh331 billion, which was 11 per cent above the previous year's Sh298 billion.
While announcing the results on Monday, DTB’s Chief Executive Officer Nasim Devji said the results were a testimony of the strong foundation and resilience that the Group has built over the years.
"We believe that the resilience,strong foundation,existing capabilities and new competences that we acquire will position DTB in sweet takeoff spot to become a top-tier digitally driven bank in East Africa and anchor itself as truly customer-centric," Devji said.
DTB's non performing loans and advances stood at Sh28.8 billion up from Sh22.2 billion in 2020.
A large part of the lender's NPL book is secured by high quality collateral in the form of real estate, a sector that has been affected by Covid-19 pandemic.
DTB has embarked on an aggressive growth strategy with plans to grow its foot print in Kenya by 20 branches this year, and another 20 by 2024.
This will expand the bank’s network size in Kenya to over 100 branches-and in East Africa to nearly 200-over the next two years.
In positioning DTB as a customer-centric,top-tier digital bank in East Africa,the Group is also implementing an ambitious digital transformation program which aims at pivoting the bank to be digital to the core.
This will involve an investment in excess of $30million over the next two years in building a digitally literate talent pool,as well as acquiring a gile digital platforms,cyber security assets and data analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities.
