NAIROBI – Barclays Bank of Kenya posted a 5 percent increase in first-half pretax profit and said it was looking to focus on lending to the lucrative small and medium enterprise lending segment.
The bank, which is a unit of Barclays Plc, said its non-interest income rose 12 percent in the period to 4.8 billion shillings, supported by new products such as insurance.
Net interest income rose by 4 percent to 10 billion shillings, the bank said, helping to take its pretax profit to 6.43 billion shillings ($63.35 million).
Chief Executive Jeremy Awori told investors the bank had relaxed its lending requirements for small and medium firms seeking to borrow a maximum of 15 million shillings in order to tap that area, which is a key part of the economy.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Yusuf Omari, the bank’s chief financial officer, said the bank had a core capital ratio of 16.4 percent, well above the regulatory requirement of 10.5 percent, giving it room for more lending.
($1=101.5000 Kenyan shillings)(Reuters)
