Barclays Kenya posts 11pc increase in net profits

What you need to know:

  • Barclays Bank of Kenya's net profit rose 11 per cent to Sh6.2 billion ($69 million) in the nine months through September.
  • Total interest income grew 8 per cent to Sh17 billion, while the total assets also increased 8 per cent to Sh219 billion.

Barclays Bank of Kenya's net profit rose 11 per cent to Sh6.2 billion ($69 million) in the nine months through September, driven mainly by an increase in customer loans and net interest income, the bank said on Friday.

Total interest income grew 8 per cent to Sh17 billion, while the bank's total assets also increased by 8 per cent to Sh219 billion, the bank said.

Managing Director Jeremy Awori said the bank's focus in the coming year would be on accelerating growth.

"Based on these numbers and the sound fundamentals which we continue to deliver, we are confident that our plan to become one of Kenya's top three banks by revenue by 2016 is on track," he said in a statement.

In August, Barclays Bank of Kenya, controlled by Britain's Barclays Plc, reported a 12 per cent jump in first-half pre-tax profit and said it planned to start a mortgage finance division to tap rising housing demand.

The bank launched an investment banking division in the first half of the year and was lead arranger in June for Kenya's first sovereign bond issue, worth $2 billion (Sh180 billion).

The article first appeared in The Business Daily.