Reporter
Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has announced pre-tax profits of KShs 9.5 billion for the year ended 31 December 2022, a significant 44% increase from the previous year.
The East African banking group’s 2022 after-tax profits also grew by 54% during the year to KShs 6.8 billion. This was on the back of enhanced interest income earnings and fee income growth during the year.
The Group’s asset base crossed the half a trillion mark to close at KShs 527 billion, growing by 15% in 2022. Customer deposits closed at a record Kshs 388 billion, which was 17% above the previous year.
Ambitious growth
As a testimony to the Group’s strong and diverse market presence and performance in East Africa, the contribution of DTB subsidiaries to the overall results of the Group continues to grow, with the banking subsidiaries in Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi making up one third of the Group’s assets and profitability.
Following this strong performance, the Board has proposed a dividend of KShs 1.4 billion, or KShs 5.00 per share, reflecting a 67% growth in the dividends paid last year.
DTB Chairman Linus Gitahi said that the Board will continue to progressively increase the dividend payouts, on the back of an improving performance by the Group as well as ensuring that there is an equitable balance between rewarding shareholders and retaining capital to fund DTB ambitious growth aspirations.
Strategic focus
“We continue to maintain our strategic focus of pivoting DTB as a socio- economically relevant corporate citizen of East Africa and this is characterised by the significant investments we have been making, particularly since last year, in expanding our geographic and digital footprint in the region.” said Mr Gitahi.
DTB is implementing a rapid and aggressive branch expansion strategy. The Group has opened 10 new branches since July last year in Kenya alone and plans to open another 20 branches over the next nine months. This will increase DTB’s footprint in East Africa to over 150 branches by the end of the year.
DTB is also pursuing an ambitious digital transformation journey since 2022, anchored on building capacity, fostering partnerships with fintechs and other tech-enabled entities, and offering innovative and diverse digital solutions to its growing customer base.
Ksh 3 billion investments
DTB Group has set aside over KShs 3 billion to fund the investments it has initiated since last year to augment its branch footprint and implement its digital transformation agenda.
Nasim Devji, DTB’s Chief Executive Officer, said the Group is confident that the investments it is making in expanding its traditional branch footprint as well as in its digital transformation journey will deliver value to its customers as well as shareholders.
“We believe that the investments we are making in our people, branch and digital platforms will deliver not just convenience and ease of access to our customers, but also provide them with innovative value propositions which speak to their needs.
That is what being customer-centric is all about.” said Ms Devji.
Ms. Devji added that the results of implementing these strategic growth objectives are already beginning to be seen, judging by the 54% growth in DTB’s customer base across East Africa last year, as well as the growth in the Group’s financial performance in 2022.