CRDB Bank’s Burundi subsidiary has posted a remarkable profit in this year’s first quarter (Q1), almost similar to the profit of the year in 2015, despite political unrest in the East African country.
The CRDB Managing Director, Dr Charles Kimei, said in Dar es Salaam last week that the operation, mainly in Bujumbura with three branches, posted a profit of 592m/- in the Q1 compared to the 2015 profit of 657m/-.
“We are very pleased with the results and we are optimistic Burundi operations will do even better this year,” Dr Kimei told journalists during the Bank’s investors forum. “We targeted to claim a market share of five per cent by 2017 but we have already attained that figure (almost) two years ahead of target.
“We are now figuring out that the subsidiary will have a 20 per cent market share coming 2017…” He said the Burundi operation could actually have attained a better share, even up to 10 per cent to date, if it was not for prevailing situation on the land.
The subsidiary planned to open five branches at the end of last year but stuck to three branches and eleven ATMs, with customer base of over 7,000 clients.
In 2015 the Burundi operation broke even after posting a first profit of 657m/- compared to a loss of 3.57bn/- of 2014. “This is a good performance and it came earlier,” Dr Kimei said, adding “hope things (political challenges) will stabilize in the near future.”
The bank, facing competition from seven banks, total assets grew to 153bn/- in 2015 compared to 104bn/- of 2014. Deposits went up clocking 66bn/- in 2015 from 29bn/- of 2014 thus pushing up loan portfolio to 74bn/- from 63bn/-.
Burundi is the first CRDB’s subsidiary out of the country and plans are under way for the bank to open another in DR Congo. “On international markets we want to build a foothold in East Africa markets… we are preparing for a consolidation regionally.”
