Yesterday, Barclays Bank of Kenya reported a 3.1 per cent growth in net profit to Sh. 2.18 billion in the first quarter of 2016. However, the results suffered from the same protruding sore thumb that nearly all local banks have been itching from: bad loans.
In the first quarter of 2016, Barclays Kenya’s provisio for loan losses nearly doubled, arising from non-performing loans “NPLs). The bank’s loan loss provisions rose to Sh798 million from Sh351 million last year. The gross NPLs rose by a significant Sh2.6 billion or 47.9 per cent to Sh7.9 billion in the quarter compared to last December.
Barclays, though, is not the only local bank that has been hit by bad loans. Earlier in the month, National Bank of Kenya revealed that in the first quarter of 2016, its non-performing loans had hit a staggering Sh. 15 billion compared to Sh. 6 billion recorded in the same period last year, representing a 124 per cent increase.
NBK was closely followed by the Kenya Commercial bank (KCB) which revealed that despite making a profit of Sh. 4.63 billion, it had been hit by a Sh7 billion increase in gross non-performing loans (NPLs). KCB’s provisioning for loan losses more than doubled to Sh1.34 billion.
Commercial Bank of Africa fell in the same basket in the first quarter of 2016, with its loan loss provision icreasing by nearly five times to Sh947 million from just Sh205.1 million in the same period last year. It’s gross NPLs rose by 54.2 per cent to stand at Sh10.8 billion.
The Consolidated Bank has not been left behind either. The bank suffered a Sh. 28.3 million loss in the first quarter of 2016, which was drive by ballooning expenses which increased by a third to Sh. 421 million on the back of bad loan provisions.
