I&M moves out of Orient’s loss-making shadow
I&M bas stabilised just two years after taking over loss-making Orient Bank. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- This is the second year I&M is reporting profits moving away from the shadows of Orient Bank, which had reported mounting losses before it was taken over by Kenya’s I&M Group in April 2021
I&M Bank has reported a 105.4 percent increase in net profit to Shs11.5b for the year ended December 2023.
The increase was largely due to higher interest earnings from loans and advances.
This is the second year I&M is reporting profits moving away from the shadows of Orient Bank which had reported mounting losses before it was taken over by Kenya’s I&M Group in April 2021.
During the year ended December 2022, I&M reported a Shs5.6b net profit, which was an improvement from a loss position of about three years under Orient Bank.
In details contained in the bank’s financials, I&M reported that during the period under review, net interest income from loans increased from Shs33.7b to Shs39.5b, while income from investment securities rose from Shs19.8b to Shs25.2b, which saw its net income rise from Shs84.8b to Shs95.3b.
Mr Timothy Musiime, the I&M chief financial officer, said in a statement that the bank’s loan book increased by 28.5 percent to Shs300b from Shs234.1b, while shareholders’ equity rose by 56 percent to Shs199b from Shs127b, which boosted issued capital from Shs150b to Shs210b, surpassing Finance Ministry’s required capital of Shs150b.
The bank also reported a 20 percent increase in assets to Shs944.5b from Shs786.5b, but recorded a surge in liabilities, which rose from Shs659.5b to Shs746b due to a Shs32.3b “balances due to banking institutions,” a liability category that reflects the amount of money that a bank owes to other banks or financial institutions.
I&M Group has invested more than Shs108b in recapitalising in the last two years in addition to rebranding it from Orient Bank.
The bank has also previously indicated that it has spent about Shs34b on system upgrades, in which it has had to transfer its operating systems to Finacle Core Banking Solution System, a software designed to improve customer service, streamline operations, and foster innovation in the banking sector.
