First quarter profit for 2021 according to the unaudited 2021 Financial Statement of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Plc, stands at Ghs 115 million.
The Ghs 115 million recorded at the end of Q1 2021, represents a marginal year-on-year increase of Ghs 6 million from the Ghs 109 million recorded same period last year.
The marginal year-on-year increment in the bank’s profit for Q1 2021, was supported by both operating and trading income as its net interest income and net fee and commission income declined.
Operating income increased from Ghs 236 million in Q1 2020 to Ghs 272 million in Q1 2021, with net trading income increasing from Ghs 37 million to Ghs 79 million over the same period.
Net interest income as well as net fee and commission income fell to Ghs 156 million from Ghs 159 million and Ghs 35 million from Ghs 44 million in 2021 and 2020 respectively.
Compared to same period last year, assets value of StanChart bank increased by Ghs 782 million ending Q1 2021 with a total assets value of Ghs 9.04 billion as against the Ghs 8.2 billion recorded for Q1 2020.
Decrements in loans and advances made to customers as well as cash and cash equivalent , were nullified by increments in non-pledged trading assets and investment securities.
Loans and advances as well as cash and cash equivalents decreased from Ghs 1.8 billion to Ghs 1.5 billion and Ghs 3.2 billion to 3 billion in Q1 2020 and Q1 2021 respectively.
However, both non-pledged trading assets and investment securities over the same period increased from Ghs 195 million to Ghs 505 million and Ghs 2 billion to Ghs 3 billion respectively.
A further perusal of the balance sheet of StanChart Bank, revealed that its total liabilities driven mainly by more deposits from other financial institutions, increased to Ghs 7.4 billion at end Q1 2021 from Ghs 7 billion end Q1 2020.
Deposits from other financial institutions rose from Ghs 87 million in 2020 to more than Ghs 319 million in 2021. Deposits from customers also increased from Ghs 6 billion to Ghs 6.3 billion at end-March 2021.
Loan asset quality of StanChart bank deteriorated as the financial institution saw its Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) as a ratio of gross loans increase by 5 percentage points on a year-on-year basis.
NPLs as a ratio of gross loans recorded at the end of March 2021, was 26.61 percent from the 21.36 percent recorded at the end of March 2020.
The bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) which indicates its solvency level and ability to protect customers’ deposits increased marginally from 28.77 percent in 2020 to 31.62 percent in 2021, which is way above the regulatory requirement of 13 percent as demanded by the Bank of Ghana.