Absa Kenya released its financial results for the year 2019 a year in which it completed the transition from Barclays to Absa, the third-largest financial services group in Africa.

Financial Performance: In 2019 assets grew by Kshs 50 billion to Kshs 374 billion (~$3.74 billion) which saw Absa Kenya ranked as the country’s fifth-largest bank. Deposits went up by 15% to Kshs 238 billion and loans by 10% to Kshs 194 billion. Income was up 6% over a year ago, and expenses were up 2%. Profit for the year was Kshs 12.2 billion before the exceptional item of the transitions, which continue to have an impact on their financial results, leaving a normalized after-tax profit of Kshs 8.5 billion (~$85 M).

Exceptional costs of Transition: Absa Kenya incurred an exceptional item cost of Kshs 1.5 billion, relating to the transitional services agreement with Barclays for the transition to Absa and which was completed in February 2020, ahead of schedule. During the year the bank completed the migration of over 300 technology systems including its core banking system, financial crimes altering, and card acquisition switch, that were previously housed at Barclays in the UK.

There were also the costs to rebrand 85 branches, over 200 ATM’s and 78 applications used across different platforms of the bank. The “Timiza” banking app now has 3.8 million customers and had lent over 20 billion by the end of 2019.

Investor Gains: For shareholders, the dividend for 2019 will be unchanged at Kshs 1.1 per share, comprising a final dividend of Kshs 0.9 that follows an earlier interim one of Kshs 0.2 per share. This represents a generous dividend payout of 80% of profits and currently, it is the best performing bank stock at the Nairobi Securities Exchange with a return of 39% since 2018.

Corona Virus cushion in 2020: As the world grapples with the impact of the Corona Virus outbreak, the bank has been one of the early champions of the industry reaction to enable Kenyan to continue their daily lives by encouraging customers to take up cashless transactions. Absa Kenya waived all money transfer charges between customer bank accounts and mobile wallets, including on Timiza and Pesalink while also increasing daily transition limits and also will also offer cash back of 0.3% for each use of Absa debit cards.

It also committed to ensuring that all its suppliers are paid within 14 days, with small and medium enterprise (SME) suppliers, invoicing amounts that are less than Kshs 1 million (~$10,000), to be paid within 7 days.

And in line with other banks in the country, under the Kenya Bankers Association, and guided by the Central Bank of Kenya, Absa Kenya has welcomed its customers experiencing financial strains as a result of the pandemic, to initiate discussions on restructuring of their personal and business loans, including the option of a repayment holiday of up to one year, and committed to render such decisions within seven days.