NCBA adds 340 jobs as nine-month profit hits Ksh.6.5 billion

The new additions serve to replenish the bank’s workforce which fell by an estimated 470 persons after the restructure of operations on the backdrop of the merger between NIC and the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) which created NCBA.

240 of the new hires represent permanent employees to the bank with the balance representing contracted staff.

In June 2020, NCBA had let go of 350 temporary staff while 130 permanent employees exited the bank following a voluntary early retirement exercise (VER).

NCBA Group Managing Director John Gachora says the hires have been largely fuelled by the expansion of the bank which has so far in the year opened nine branches and plan to add a similar number of outlets by the end of this year.

“Last year, we had to get rid of a lot of duplicated roles as a merged entity. We let some people go because we could not redeploy them. Now that we have a good view of 2021 and an understanding of how the pandemic will be controlled, then we have the opportunity to invest for growth,” he said.

“A lot of people we have hired and promoted are to do with our expanding branch network. Secondly, we are investing heavily in the digital business, IT and operations.”

NCBA has opened new branches at Kamakis, the Nyeri Mall, Mitchell Cotts, Karatina, Kakamega, Mwembe Tayari, Bungoma, Kericho and Embu.

Nine more branches are planned out in the next month including River Road, Gikomba, Ngong, Kikuyu, Kiambu, Naivasha, Kawangware, Utawala and Kitui.

On Wednesday, the bank reported a 160 per cent jump in net profit for the third quarter from Ksh.6.5 billion last year.

The profitability is anchored on falling costs along with rising operating income in the period.

NCBA’s overall operating costs fell by 13.6 per cent to Ksh.24.7 billion after a 31.3 per cent haircut on loan-loss provisioning expenses to Ksh.9.2 billion from Ksh.13.4 billion.

Total operating income jumped by 9.7 per cent to Ksh.36.3 billion as net interest income climbed to Ksh.20.2 billion from Ksh.17 billion.

Non-interest funded income (NFI) meanwhile stood at a flat Ksh.16.1 billion but remained steady representing nearly half of NCBA’s operating income in the period.

NCBA’s earnings per share have subsequently improved to Ksh.3.96 from Ksh.1.65.

The lender who paid out a 75 cents dividend per share in June is expected to make a final dividend payment at the close of 2021.

“These results show continued momentum in the strategy we rolled out in 2020. We spent a lot of time looking at our book, addressing the bad part of the book and making provisions for it. The results of our actions are now starting to bear fruits,” added Mr. Gachora.