The bank’s net profits for the period reduced 43.2 per cent from Sh41.9 million. Photo/FILE
Oriental Commercial Bank’s after-tax profit for the three months to March plunged by nearly half to Sh23.4 million, bucking the industry trend that has seen its peers report double-digit growth in earnings.
The bank’s net profits for the period reduced 43.2 per cent from Sh41.9 million posted during a similar period last year, mainly pulled down by “other income” which dropped massively from last year’s Sh53.7 million to Sh2.5 million.
Other income ordinarily comprises of capital gains made from trading in government securities, but Oriental did not respond to our requests for clarification.
The bank, which has branches in Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kitale and Mombasa; has about Sh1.1 billion in government securities held to maturity having sold off about Sh90 million during the period under review.
The drop in profits comes at a time when Kenyans increased their uptake of personal loans in the three months to March helping banks to make Sh5.2 billion more pre-tax profit than they earned during the same period last year.
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