Zanaco Bank lost about K60 million in 2018. Speaking at a post-annual general meeting media briefing, bank chief executive officer Henk Mulder said the development could have an impact on branches but assured customers that business will continue through Zanaco Xpress.
“Zanaco has an extensive branch network and automatic teller machines countrywide. Some are not economical but the decision was made on the social point.

“Consequently, there could be some areas where we don’t need branches anymore because you can do all your transition through Zanaco Xpress, which we are expanding,” Mr Mulder said. Meanwhile, Zanaco recorded a 61 percent profit increases from K114 million in 2017 to K184 million in 2018.

Similarly, the bank’s earnings per share increased by 61 percent from 79 ngwee in 2017 to K1.27 last year on account of strong performance.
“This is the highest increase over the past five years. The strong performance of the bank is on the backdrop of a strong balance sheet. “Customer deposits also increased to K8,899 million from K7,455 million representing a 19.4 percent increase while our total assets increased to K10,614 million from K9,543 million,” he said.

He said Zanaco recorded the second largest revenue in the market and was the market leader in fees and commissions income with a market share of 23 percent.

Mr Mulder said net loans and advances also increased from K3,223 million to K4,207 million representing a 30.5 percent increase. He said associated credit impairments significantly improved from a charge to profit and loss in the prior year of K248 million to a relief of K17 million in 2018 attributable to the bank’s focus on enhanced recoveries but also ensuring that quality assets are booked.

The bank’s capital was well managed with the capital adequacy ratio at 13 percent, above the current regulatory requirement of 10 percent. It continued to make good progress on implementing its medium-term plan to be the top transactional bank in Zambia by 2020. On future outlook, the bank says it is positioned to embrace digital developments to compete strongly and transform