Co-operative Bank will pay a historic high dividend of Ksh1 per share, bringing the total cash payout to Ksh5.9 Billion.
This comes as the Co-op Bank Group reported a profit before tax of Ksh5.1 Billion for the first quarter of 2019 compared to Ksh4.9 Billion recorded in the first quarter of 2018.
Group Managing Director & CEO Gideon Muriuki reported that this was as a result of the steady growth of 4.4 percent against the backdrop of a challenging economic environment in the period.
Profit after tax was Kshs 3.6 Billion compared to Kshs 3.4 Billion in the previous year.
"The Group continues to leverage on the benefits of the “Soaring Eagle” Transformation Agenda that has re-tooled and equipped the business with added competitive edge as reflected in the sustained growth in market share across all market segments and Counties, which has progressively deepened our celebrated Financial Inclusion model rooted in the over 15 million-member co-operative movement, that is the face of Kenya," the CEO noted.
Total non-interest income increased by 19.1 percent from Kshs 3.5 billion to Kshs 4.2 billion with interest income from government securities increasing by 39.6 percent from Ksh2.0 Billion to Kshs 2.8 billion.
Prudent cost management strategy and enhanced efficiency at the bank saw the total operating expenditure decreased by 1.2percent from Ksh6.1 billion to Ksh6.0 Billion.
Through their multi-channel strategy, the Bank has successfully moved 88 percent of all customer transactions to alternative delivery channels that include self-service kiosks in 155 branches, an expanded 24-hour contact centre, mobile banking, 585 ATMs, internet and over 11,600 Co-op Kwa Jirani banking agents.
"Over 26,800 customers have taken up the rolled out MSME packages that in 2018 and 1600 have been trained on business management and planning. We have earmarked Kshs 15.2 billion for MSME lending and to date we have disbursed Kshs 3.2 billion under the program.
"These include 24,167 mobile unsecured business e-loans and 450 supply-chain loans disbursed in Q1 2019 alone. Our unique model of retail banking services through Sacco FOSAs enabled us to provide wholesale financial services to over 464 FOSA outlets, and issue over 1 million Sacco-Link cards," Muriuki added.
The group will focus on growing the 8.2 Million account-holder base digital banking, the basket of innovative financial solutions, efficient delivery of services and multichannel access to retain market position and deliver business growth and profitability.
Co-op Bank will be streaming live our 11th Annual General Meeting on Thursday, 23rd May 2019 from 11am on their Facebook page as well as through their website (www.co-opbank.co.ke/livestream).
